


So I'm a Werewolf Now...

by thornconnelly



Series: Stilinski Cousins [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Eventual Sterek, F/M, Hale Sibling Bonding, Heterosexual Sex, M/M, OC Protagonist, Oral Sex, Pack Bonding, Pre-Relationship, Scott is a Good Alpha, Slow Build, bed sharing, but 3b doesn't exist, more tags will be added, there is no nogitsune, this is post 3a
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-23 21:05:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 58,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15614994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thornconnelly/pseuds/thornconnelly
Summary: Stiles' cousin Agie lives in LA and she gets bit by a random alpha. Luckily, Derek and Cora are in LA on their roadtrip, so they help her adjust. Post 3a, no Nogitsune.And this is finally complete!





	1. Chapter 1

Agie plodded along the dark sidewalk. She liked that word. Plodded. It seemed particularly fitting. She had gone over to visit her boyfriend with the guise of studying for the social studies test tomorrow, but she had honestly been hoping to have sex. Agie didn’t like people making judgments about other people’s sex lives, and she was a total supporter of women expressing their sexual desires. And she liked sex. She wasn’t dumb--she was on the pill and she and her boyfriend always used a condom anyway--plus, she only had sex with one guy. It’s not like she was sleeping around or anything. 

But tonight she hadn’t gotten to study or have sex. And that’s most of what was bothering her. She would have preferred to do both, if she was being honest with herself, but instead, her boyfriend Jason had played Call of Duty the whole time. He barely looked at her or talked to her or anything. He said something about one of his friends calling a last minute raid, and made it sound like it was serious, like he couldn’t miss it or something. 

After nearly an hour of trying to study on the couch next to him while he cursed and shouted at the game, she eventually gave up and left. He had barely blinked when she said bye. 

So, Agie was plodding home. She had decided to take the most direct route between her house and Jason’s so that she would have some legitimate time to study before going to sleep. She rarely took this route at night because it went along the edge of the State Park Preserve. Her dad always told her not to walk near these woods at night because she wouldn’t be able to see what’s ahead of her. Some creep could be hiding behind a tree or something. But Agie had been in the woods during the day a hundred times and had never seen anything weird or creepy, so why should she be concerned at night? 

Agie was self-aware enough to know that she was being reckless, but she reasoned that between the self-defense classes that she had taken last year and the oversized jacket she was wearing, she would be safe. 

As she walked, Agie went through her to-do list in her head. She really needed to study for this test so that she could bring her grade up in the class. And her bio lab was already two days late, and she wanted to get it done so her teacher would stop hassling her about it. Plus, she was scheduled to work Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday lunch at the restaurant where she was a hostess. She kept telling her manager that she couldn’t work three weekend shifts in a row, but they would still do it at least once a month and ruin her whole weekend. 

Maybe she should just quit - she could probably find a different job that had slightly better hours. Agie began listen potential jobs on her fingers, but lost her train of thought when something slammed into her back and knocked her over. 

Agie felt the break whoosh out of her lungs as something seized her by the shoulder and started dragging her backwards, off the path and into the trees. She flailed her legs and arms, attempting to grab onto something, but they were moving too quickly. She reached back to try to dislodge the person holding her shoulder so tightly, but screamed when her hands met fur instead of skin. 

She looked down at her shoulder and screamed again - were those teeth gripping her? Was she being attacked by a dog?

Without thinking any further, Agie swung and punched the person, creature, thing, in the face, but instead of letting go, she felt a sharp pain as it sunk its teeth into her shoulder. 

“Help me!” Agie finally screamed, the pain managing to wake her brain enough to form words. “Somebody help me!”

The pressure on her shoulder suddenly released and she fell to the ground with a thud. Her head landed heavily on a rock and she could have sworn she saw actual stars swim in front of her eyes. 

After the briefest moment, Agie began scrambling upwards, but froze halfway at the sight in front of her. A half-man, half-animal was standing just a few feet away from her, breathing heavily. 

“You’re not right. You’re not her,” the thing said between pants, then turned and fled deeper into the woods. 

Agie blinked but wasted no time scrambling to her feet and running out of the woods. Once she got back to the sidewalk, she adjusted her sweater and realized that there was blood on her shoulder. She cursed and started walking quickly back towards her house. Hopefully, she’d be able to sneak into the upstairs bathroom without her step-mom noticed anything so that she could get to the first aid kit without having to explain anything.


	2. Chapter 2

Agie opened the front door with her key and immediately started running up the stairs. As she was almost at the top, she heard her step-mom call out from downstairs, “Agie? Is that you?”

“Yes Jessica, who else would it be?”

“Well, how was your studying, honey?”

“Fine. But the test is tomorrow, so I’m going to shower and just keep studying.”

“All right, but if you want, your sister and I are going to eat ice cream and watch Mr. and Mrs. Smith on tv.”

Agie grinded her teeth and muttered “step-sister” under her breath before shouting, “No, I really have too much work to do” and slamming the bathroom door behind her. She hit the light switch and cringed when she saw her appearance.

The shoulder of her sweater was ripped and soaked in blood. She had leaves sticking out of her disheveled hair. She carefully pulled her sweater off and threw it on the floor of the shower and turned the water on cold. She might not be able to salvage the sweater, but at least she could get most of the blood out so her step-mom wouldn’t notice anything too suspicious when she had to throw it out. After pulling her t-shirt off and throwing it in the shower too, she turned a closer look to her skin. 

Agie wasn’t sure how she could be looking at anything other than an animal bite. She could pretty much see each took mark as the blood slowly seeped out of her skin. She was a little surprised by how little pain she was feeling, but she assumed she must just be in shock or something. Agie carefully disinfected the bite mark, and just as she was about to put a bandage over it, a memory from last summer hit her. She pulled out her cell phone and typed a quick text message to her cousin Stiles, “Hey tell me ur free rt now I NEED TO CALL U RT NOWWW.”

Agie shut the shower off and grabbed her clothes from the shower floor. She squeezed them out super quickly and tossed them in the hamper. She could always grab them later or just make some excuse about getting her period. Jessica usually didn’t inspect things that closely. Agie opened the bathroom door and peeked out into the hall, and when she saw that her step-mother and step-sister were still downstairs, she dashed from the bathroom to her bedroom. She grabbed her bathrobe from the back of her door and threw it on as she got a text from Stiles, “yea - what’s up?”

Agie immediately facetimed Stiles, and Stiles responded on the first ring. Agie saw Stiles appear in the center, but she was surprised to also see his best friend Scott next to him on one side and a cute stranger on his other side. Stiles look at Agie with a worried expression on his face and said, “Ags - what’s up? What’s going on? And… what are you wearing?”

Agie laughed briefly and replied, “It’s my bathrobe, but whatever. Hey, Stiles, sorry, I didn’t realize you were hanging out with the guys… I can… talk to you later, I guess.”

Stile shook his head and look at the two guys, “Agie, come on, you know Scott, he’s like my brother, and this is Isaac. He’s like family too. If you want them to go downstairs, they will, but they’re family.”

Agie looked into Stiles’ eyes for a family. “Family? Okay then. I have a question for you.”

Stiles nods and says, “Shoot.”

“Remember those papers I found in your room when I was visiting last summer? The ones about werewolves that you said were for your LARPing thing?” Stiles laughs and nods as Scott and Isaac look at him sharply. “I know you don’t LARP, so I need to know- were those real?”

Stiles pulls back in his chair suddenly, “What? What do you mean?” 

Scott suddenly leans forward though, and squints at Agie, “Agie, what’s on your shoulder?” he asks. Agie glances down at her left shoulder and realizes that blood is starting to seep through her bathrobe. 

“It’s… well… I was just walking home… and something kind of happened.”

Stiles suddenly leans forward so his face is right next to Scott’s near the screen, “It’s the full moon- Agie - were you - ohmygod.”

Suddenly Agie was looking into three pairs of wide eyes. “Guys, I’m kind of scared of your reactions right now. What’s going on?”

Scott says calmly and slowly, “Agie, were you bit by anything tonight?”

Agie blinked a few times because she’d never seen Scott look so serious before, and then she slowly pulled the shoulder off her bathrobe so that the three guys could see the bite mark. Agie would normally not trust a stranger like this Isaac, but she had known Scott since he became friends with Stiles when they were kids, and Stiles had said the two guys were family to him, and since Stiles is all that’s left of her real family other than her father, she felt that she could trust them too. She knew that no one in the world understood her feelings on the importance of family more than Stiles did; after both of their mother’s died within two years of each other, the two cousins had bonded. They’d always liked each other, but the long distance between them had made it a challenge to stay close. However, once they shared the common experience of losing a parent, there was almost nothing that could happen that could keep them apart. They texted or video chatted almost daily, and even when they were at their busiest, they’d still send a text just to say “hey” or tell a random joke. 

Agie watched as the already wide eyes of her cousin and his two friends got even wider. Isaac leaned backwards and cursed under his breath while Stiles slapped his hand to his face. 

“Fuck, Agie, are you all right? What happened?” Stiles asked as he rubbed his hand through his hair. Agie took a second to wonder when it had suddenly gotten that long - they had chatted just a few days ago, but she hadn’t really noticed it. And then she laughed softly and shook her head, why the hell was she thinking about her cousin’s hair right now?

“Yea, I’m fine, really. I just… I was walking home and suddenly something grabbed me and dragged me a little way into the woods… and then bit me.”

Scott leaned forward and asked with the same calm tone as before, “Did you see what bit you?”

“Yea… it looked weird. It was like… a wolf… man? I guess? But that wasn’t even the weirdest part.”

Isaac laughed suddenly and asked, “Wait? You’re saying the wolf-man dragging you into the woods and biting you wasn’t the weirdest part of this scenario? Damn Stiles, she really is related to you.”

“Fuck you very much, and no, the weird part was when the dude-thing looked at me and said something like, ‘You’re not her. You’re not right.’ And then ran off into the woods.”

The three guys just stared at her for a few seconds. Finally Stiles shook himself a little and asked in a hurry, “Agie, what color were the guy’s eyes?”

Agie was taken back for a second, “I don’t know what fucking color his eyes were…” but as she thought about it, she suddenly realized that she did know. “Red. His eyes were red.”

Scott took a big sigh and leaned in to the center of the camera’s view, “Listen, Agie, this is going to sound weird, well, not any weirder than whatever I’m sure you’re thinking of now, but still. Just listen.” Agie nodded and Scott continued talking. “Werewolves are real.” He paused again waiting for a reaction. Agie glanced down at the bite mark on her shoulder and shrugged. “Okay, so werewolves are real, and you’re right, Stiles was researching them last year because I was bit then too, and I’m a werewolf.”

“Shit, Scott, really? Wait. Are you all werewolves? Stiles, I’m going to fucking murder you if you’re a werewolf and you never told me.”

Stiles shakes his head and laughs, “No - I’m still one hundred percent human, but Isaac here is part of the pack too. I’m just like… the human mascot.”  
Agie tilted her head to the side briefly, “The pack?”

Isaac shrugged, “Yea, we’re a little bit like the lost boys or the home for misfit toys or something. It’s kind of a long story, but the shortened version is that Scott is our Alpha now, and only Alphas have red eyes, and only Alphas can change someone with their bite.”

Agie’s eyes suddenly widened in understanding, “So you’re telling me that I’m a werewolf now? That I’m a fucking werewolf because some dude bit me because he thought I was another girl? What the ever-living fuck!”

Stiles lurched suddenly and grabbed his phone, “Hey, Agie, look, wait, I have a friend, well, he’s our friend, or, well, he’s… something, but he’s in our pack, sort of, I’m not really sure how to describe him, but he’s in LA right now, and he’s a werewolf too, I can call him and have him come over, if you’re cool with that? Scott, it’ll probably be easier if someone is actually there, right? To help and explain everything? Like, in person and stuff?” Stiles turns to Scott and looks at him questioningly. 

Scott hesitates, and replies, “Are you sure he’ll be up for it? I mean… I can just talk her through everything.”

“Yea, but you’re not there. I know she has another month, but remember how bad your first few full moons were? I think having Derek and Cora around will totally help.”

Isaac nods, “Look, I know the dude has problems, and I’m not gonna say he did things right with Erica and Boyd and me, but he knows his stuff, and he has definitely changed in the past few months. Plus, I think Cora calms him down too. I think he could be a big help.”

Stiles nods and turns to Agie, “It’s complicated, but I trust Derek. He’s pack, but he has this super complicated past and things around here were really shitty for him lately, so he’s kind of taking a … road trip until he gets his life back in order. But I’m sure he’ll come if I ask him to help out family.” 

Agie smiled and nodded, apparently this Derek shared her and Stiles’ definitely of family, if he could be summoned from his life-organizing road trip. 

Stiles handed his phone to Scott and took Scott’s phone and started typing, and Agie couldn’t help but notice the faint smile that ghosted over her cousins’ lips as he texted this mystery guy who could apparently help her as she turned into a werewolf. 

The four adolescents sat in silence for a few seconds, before Agie leaned forward and said, “Scott, so what’s going to happen to me? Is turning into a werewolf going to hurt? I am going to go around and bite people? And what does that mean that you’re the alpha?”

Stiles didn’t look up from typing, and the light of the screen wasn’t glowing on his face anymore so Agie had a harder time making out his facial expression, but he still seemed intent on whatever was happening on his phone.

“No, turning into a werewolf doesn’t hurt. It’s… well, you probably won’t even notice it happen, but you’ll notice other things, like your senses get better, like, you can hear and smell things better, and you’ll be stronger and faster. Oh and you can heal faster, like, super-human healing. And about the biting… even if you do bite someone, they won’t turn into a werewolf-”

“-but you could still fuck them up, which is why Stiles is trying to get Derek over to you.” Isaac interrupts Scott, “When you’re a new werewolf, it’s super hard to control yourself. And you’ll realize that the wolf inside you… it has it’s own instincts. And sometimes they can be violent. You just have to find a way to control it. We all do it differently. But if you were on your own… it could be bad.”

“Well that doesn’t sound ominous.” Agie replied, before taking a second to think. She looks down at her shoulder, which seems to have stopped slowly seeping blood. “So how was it when you guys first changed then?”

Isaac looks to Scott, as if differing to him so he could speak first, “Well, I was bitten by a rogue Alpha. That’s part of the super long story, but basically he didn’t give me any guidance, which is what your Alpha is supposed to do, so… it kinda sounds like your Alpha. And Derek had just come into town and we didn’t trust him yet, so I kind of ignored everything he said, which totally made sense to us at the time because he was super shady and didn’t, you know, explain anything, so Stiles pretty much coached me through everything, and it was really hit or miss for a while, and Derek had to end up helping me out because I lost control a couple times and got loose. But it was a little better for you, right Isaac?”

Isaac nods and says, “Derek was my Alpha. He’s the one who bit me and he started teaching me control right away. He… was sort of in a rush and he had three new Betas at the same time, three new people he had just bitten so they had changed. In retrospect it wasn’t the best idea to try to train three of us at the same time, but… Derek has definitely learned from his mistakes. And he’ll definitely help you. I … lost control once, but Derek was there and he helped to talk me down, and then from that point I helped him to control Erica and Boyd, the other two Betas.” Isaac looks down and frowns, “I wasn’t all that great either, but it was something, I think. And now Scott and Stiles are helping me with my control even more.”

Stiles suddenly looks up, “Agie, there’s one Alpha in each pack - they’re essentially the leader. They have red eyes and are more powerful and have more heightened senses. Also, their bite is the only one that changes people. The other people in their pack are the Betas. They’re, well, they’re just the pack. They’re the regular werewolves. Their eyes are naturally gold, but turn blue if they have ever killed anyone. And Omegas are lone werewolves. They… well it’s more dangerous to be an Omega. A pack makes each member stronger, like… literally stronger. Plus a pack protects you. So it makes you literally and figuratively stronger.” Stiles pauses and laughs at his own joke, which Agie only smiles slightly at. She knows that she usually finds Stiles’ jokes entertaining, but her sense of humor seems to have been stifled somewhere back in the woods. “Anyway… sorry we keep skipping over the long story, I promise we’ll tell you eventually, but Derek agreed so he’s on his way now, I sent him your address. But I just wanted to explain the basics to you at least. So, Derek used to be an Alpha. But his sister Cora, who’s coming too, by the way, was seriously injured so he poured his Alpha power into her to heal her, but lost his Alpha status in the process. It was a really risky thing that most Alphas wouldn’t try because it could kill them in the process, but Derek is awesome, so he saved his sister. But he’s a Beta now. Derek and Cora are… well they’re marginally in our pack, in Scott’s pack, but since they’ve been on their road trip of epic sibling-ness, we haven’t seen them in a few months. But I wanted to explain about the eyes, just so you wouldn’t question it, because I think Derek gets a little sensitive about it… his eyes are blue.”

“Wait so that means he’s killed somebody?”

“Yes, but he’s not a bad guy. He’s only killed people when he’s had to.”

“Stiles, you just said ‘people,’ as in plural.”

Stiles looks down for a second before looking back at the screen, “Yes, people. Derek does what needs to get down, and often that’s the thing that nobody else wants to do. But he’s good, I swear. You know I wouldn’t call him family if I didn’t mean it.”

Agie closes her eyes for a second and things to herself, family. of course. If Stiles trusts him and Scott and Isaac think I need this guy so I don’t get… violent, I can trust him too. “Okay.”

Stiles smiles and says, “Good, because they’re at your house now. Derek just texted and said ‘Tell your cousin to open her window so we can come in without letting her family know.’ And yes, he uses proper capitalization and punctuation.” 

Agie laughed and turned towards her window. She jumped a little when she saw two faces outside her window. Without moving, she asks the faces, “You climbed up on the roof?”

The guy, Derek, just points at the lock on her window. 

She gets up from her desk and adjusts her bathrobe as she walks towards the window, unlocks it, and pushes it and the screen all the way up. 

The guy are girl glide gracefully in through her window. Derek and Cora. Agie studies them as they stand up straight. Derek has dark hair and a short beard, and she notices the way his muscles shift through his shirt. Impressive, she thinks. Cora has equally dark hair, which is hanging straight and loose down past her shoulders. Derek definitely looks like he’s in his 20s, but Cora might be around the same age as Agie herself. Also, both of them could be models with their bone structures and gorgeous looks. 

Derek just stands still and stares back at Agie, while Cora fixes her jacket and looks around the bedroom. 

“Hi,” Agie says weakly.

Derek nods and Cora smiles at Agie, “Hey, is that Stiles and them still?”

Agie picks her phone back up and nods. She turns her phone so that Stiles, Scott, and Isaac can more clearly see the three of them as they stood in her bedroom. Stiles and Isaac wave, and Scott smiles up at them.

Derek leans forward and says, “Stiles. I’m here. Stop texting me.”

Stiles laughs and says, “Shut up cranky-wolf. I was just asking how long it would take you. I wasn’t sure where in LA you were - it’s kind of a big city, you know. And I only texted you three times because you didn’t respond to me!”

Derek doesn’t reply, but Agie notices slight crinkles at the sides of his eyes, as if he were trying to hold in a smile. 

Scott speaks up, “You two. Save it for another time. Derek, Cora, this is Agie. She’s Stiles’ cousin, his only cousin. She was bit by an Alpha tonight, who may be rogue. Agie, tell them what he said after he bit you.”

Derek and Cora turn to Agie as she says, “Well, he said, ‘You’re not right. You’re not her.’ Or something essentially like that.”

Derek frowned and Cora asked, “Wait, so he meant to bite someone else?”

Agie shrugged.

Derek crossed his arms across his chest and asked, “Was he fully shifted when he bit you? And when he spoke?”

Agie cocks her head backwards, “What do you mean?”

“Did he look like he was shifted into his wolf form? Was he fully human but with fangs?”

“Oh… I don’t know… I’m not sure what ‘normal’ looks like - but he… he didn’t look human. He was super hairy and … not human looking.”  
“Did he look like this?” Scott asks, and when Agie looks over at the screen she jumps. Scott’s eyes are glowing red and he has fangs and the whole sides of his face are hairy like they’re the most intense mutton-chops ever and he had hairy super long ears poking out of the sides of his head.

“No - he looked more like an animal. Wait - is that what Alphas normally look like? Why do you look different?”

Scott shifts back to regular and Agie curiously studies as his facial features change back to normal. Stiles curses softly, “And you said he looked a little human? Like he wasn’t a full wolf? He was just… mostly wolf-life?”

Agie shrugs, “He wasn’t a regular wolf. And he didn’t look like Scott. He was… well he… I guess he was wearing pants, but he definitely wasn’t wearing a shirt, and he had a hairy chest. Not like, regular hairy, like… animal hairy. And he wasn’t really standing up straight. And he was big. Like, super big. Bigger than a normal person. And… yea, he stayed like that the whole time, when he talked and then he just turn and ran away.”

Stiles and Scott look at each other briefly, and then Stiles turns to Derek, “It sounds a little like Peter. Like he looked when he was Alpha.”

Agie glances over at Derek and notices that he’s still frowning with his arms crossed. “It does. We haven’t noticed any evidence of a rogue Alpha around here, but we can keep our eyes out.”

Isaac glances down at his cell phone, “Guys, I don’t want to be a buzzkill or anything, but we have lacrosse practice in five hours.”

Stiles squawks and Scott jumps. Agie smiles, “Guys. Go to sleep. I have two certified werewolf gurus to answer my questions now. Stiles, I might just be texting you in panic a bit more often.”

Stiles smiles and says, “Cuz, I love you. Derek, Cora, take care of her!”

Derek leans closer to the screen again, “Stiles, you know we will. Now stop pestering us.”

Cora smiles and leans forward too, “Good to see your faces again weirdos!”

Agie closes the conversation window with a smile on her face. She pushes her chair so that it spins around and Derek and Cora take a step back so the three of them are staring at each other.

“So… what do we do now?”

Cora chuckles and looks to Derek. He shrugs, “There’s really not much we can do right now. You’ll probably change at some point over the night. Can I see your shoulder?”

Agie nods and shifts her bathrobe so her shoulder is visible. Derek steps forward and his hands ghost over the bite wound, “See? It’s starting to heal already. You’re still in school, right?”

Agie blinks at the sudden shift in conversation. “Yeah. I’m a senior at John Marshall.”

Cora nods and says, “Great. I’ll enroll there tomorrow so I can be around during the day just in case you need help.”

Agie nods, “You weren’t already enrolled somewhere?”

Cora shakes her head, “I was going to get my GED, but we decided to hold off on it, just in case I needed to look normal and enroll in a school. It helps us blend in. But just in case anyone asks, I have the GED certification paperwork just waiting to be mailed in my suitcase.” Cora grins and Agie can tell that they’ve thought this out pretty thoroughly.

“How old are you?”

“I’ll be enrolling as a junior. My birth certificate says I’m 16.”

Agie squints, “Well… that’s not really an answer.”

Cora shrugs and grins at Agie. 

Derek nods and says, “Well, that’s decided. Cora will spend the days with you. Tomorrow you can come by and see our apartment, if you want, but we should start training you right away. After school tomorrow we’ll start.”

Agie hesitates, “I’m supposed to hang out with my friend Cheryl tomorrow after school.”

“Make something up.” Derek says. 

Agie nods and says, “Fine.”

Derek nods and looks to Cora, “Then we’d better head home so you can get some sleep before you first day of school.”

Cora laughs and turns to Agie, “Well, I’ll see you in school tomorrow new friend.”

Agie grins back at Cora, “Okay.”

Derek and Cora turn back to the window and silently climb out it. Cora waves before they both jump off the roof and silently disappear into the darkness. 

Agie looks at her shoulder and notices that Derek was right, the bite has completely stopped bleeding and even looks like it might be healing a little. Weird, Agie thinks to herself as she finds a sleep t-shirt and throws it on after she tosses her bathrobe in the hamper. She’ll have to wash the blood out of that too. 

She makes sure that the alarm on her phone is set and lays down in her bed. Great, how am I supposed to fall asleep after all of that? Without realizing it, though, Agie is asleep within just a few minutes.


	3. Chapter 3

Agie got up early the next morning and made it to school the next morning with no incidents. She managed to evade her step-mom and step-sister, and even stop at Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. She grabbed two donuts and two iced coffees and made it to school in time to get a spot in the closest row. As she got out of her car, though, she was hit with an onslaught of noise and smells. She staggered backwards and almost dropped her breakfast.

“Just close your eyes and take a deep breath through your mouth,” Cora appeared out of nowhere and spoke softly into Agie’s ear as she placed a hand on her forearm. 

Agie did as she was told and the noises and smells slowly faded. She could still smell and hear more than normal, but it wasn’t as bad. She opened her eyes and looked at Cora, “Is that normal?”

Cora nodded, “The heightened senses, remember? Once you get control of everything, it won’t surprise you like that, but until then… you’ll just have to be careful. But that’s why I’m around.”

Agie smiled, “I got you breakfast. I hope you like iced coffee.”

Cora smiled back, “Thanks. And I’m taking the chocolate sprinkles.” She reached into the paper bag and grabbed out the chocolate sprinkled donut and started sipping on her coffee.

“How?”

“I smelled it. I don’t like the french crullers. They’re just weird.”

“Well, that’s perfect since they’re my favorites. Are you all set up and registered?”

“Yes, she is, and she has to get to class so she’s not late for homeroom on her first day.” Derek says as he walks up to the pair as they munched on their donuts while leaning up against Agie’s car.

Agie glances at her cell phone, “We still have four minutes. Plus, I can show her where she needs to go. What room are you in?”

Cora pulls out a piece of paper from her back pocket, “Uh… looks like homeroom is in room 211.”

Agie nods, “Perfect. That’s on my way. Derek, we’ll see you after school?”

He doesn’t reply, just nods as he walks towards a black camaro parked in the next parking spot.

“Don’t tell me that’s his car? It’s so hot!”

Cora grimaces, “Yea, it’s his. And he’s a fanatic about it.”

Agie laughs and says, “All right, well, let’s go show you around your new school.”

**

Agie and Cora walked to Cora's homeroom while talking about nothing important, and Agie waved bye as she kept walking towards her own homeroom. 

"Agie, how come you didn't text me last night?" Cheryl asked as Agie sat next to her.

"Sorry, I fell asleep as soon as I got home from Jason's last night."

"No problem," her friend replied, "we're still on for later, right?"

Agie grimaced and thought about what Derek had told her to do. She didn't want to lie to her friend, but she wanted to trust Stiles and do what Derek told her to. "No, sorry I have to bail. Jessica is making me spend the afternoon with her."

Cheryl made a face, "Your step-mom is so intrusive. Why can't she just leave you alone?”

Agie grinned because Cheryl always got her- that’s why they are best friends. “I don’t know, but she’s not letting me get out of this. Rain date?”

Cheryl smiles and is about to respond when their homeroom teacher starts talking. Instead, she just nods as the two girls turn and give at least half of their attention to the teacher.

***

Agie finds Cora again during lunch. She grabs the girl as she’s heading towards the cafeteria and says, “Come on, we go off campus for lunch.”

Cora nods and shifts her backpack on her shoulder as she follows Agie and Cheryl towards the school exit. “And I’m allowed to leave too?”

“Yea - juniors and seniors have open campus. Oh, Cheryl, this is my friend Cora.”

Cora waves and smiles as Cheryl looks over at her, “Your friend? You’ve never mentioned her before?”

Cora responds before Agie gets a chance to, “I’m friends with her cousin, and I just moved here, so she’s showing me the ropes.”

Agie gives Cora a thumbs up behind Cheryl’s back as the three girls move towards Agie’s car. Cheryl responds, “Oh that makes sense. And that’s Stiles, right? The one that lives up by Redding, right?”

Agie and Cora both respond, “Yes” at the same time, and all three girls laugh as they get into the car. 

Lunch passes without any incident. Cora proves herself to be very adept at conversation, and she and Cheryl and Agie talk about the current pop stars, reality stars and musicians, without the conversation ever straying towards anything substantial like Cora’s sudden appearance or Agie’s new status as a werewolf.

When they first walk into the McDonalds where they had decided to grab their lunch, Agie was hit with the sudden sound of sizzling frying oil and the overwhelming scent of food, but Cora had “accidentally” stumbled into Cheryl, knocking her to the side as she whispered, “Close your eyes. Breathe.” Agie had followed her directions, and opened her eyes again to see Cora apologizing to Cheryl and blaming the lip of the door for tripping her. Cheryl didn’t seem to notice anything and the girls ordered their food and continued their conversation without any further hitches. 

**  
As Agie and Cheryl were saying bye for the afternoon, Cora ran up to Agie and asked, “Hey, sorry, but would you mind driving me home? My stupid brother was supposed to pick me up, but he said he was just delayed.” As Cora was speaking, she angled to that her back was facing Cheryl and gave Agie a significant look.

Agie shrugged and said, “Sure, it’s on my way home, anyway. And if Jessica has to wait a few extra minutes, I don’t care. See you tomorrow Cheryl!”

Cheryl waved to Cora and Agie as they got into the car, and neither of them said anything until Agie backed out of the spot and was pulling out of the parking lot. Agie glanced at Cora, “So… did something actually delay Derek, or is it just easier if I drive you?”

Cora pulled out her phone and said, “He sent me a text saying, ‘Found something. Meet me at Griffith Park with Agie.’ He sent that over an hour ago, and hasn’t responded to anything since then. He gets like that sometimes. He likes to be all mysterious so that he can impress us later with everything he knows. Except he won’t tell us everything. Just the ‘important parts.’” Cora made quotation marks with her fingers as she said the last two words, “He drives me crazy sometimes.”

Agie laughed, “I hear that’s normal with siblings.”

Cora looks over at Agie thoughtfully, “Don’t you have a sister? Or a step-sister?”

Agie nods, “Yes, but her mom, Jessica, only married my dad two years ago. And they’re both kind of vile. I try to avoid them as much as possible.”

Cora nods slowly, “I had a foster family, for a while, before I found Derek again, long story short, our whole family was killed and we were separated, but I was so happy to have them in my life, even if they weren’t my real blood family.”

Agie looks over at Cora, “Your whole family was killed? That’s horrible!”

Cora smiles softly, “I know, but it was when I was 11, so… well, that doesn’t make it any better, but the time does help a little.”

Agie shakes her head though, “I’m glad you had a good foster family, at least. But you don’t understand, well, I’m sure you’ll meet her, or get to know her eventually, but Jessica is so horrible. She acts all sweet and lovey-dovey with my dad, but she’s just awful. I swear. I would love a chance to have a real family again, but after my mom died, I was so hopeful that Jessica could be family-I knew she couldn’t replace my mom, but she could still be something good, you know? But she’s not. I swear she’s everything Disney taught me to expect from an evil step-mother, and then some.”

Cora laughs, “All right, well I’ll have to trust you on that one.”

Agie nods, “So, uh… we’re technically at the park now. So, where should we go? Where are we meeting Derek?”

Cora rolls down the window and says, “Don’t judge me for this, I swear it works,” and she tilts her head out the window and takes a big inhale. “Is there a place to park nearby? He’s not far from here.”

Agie nods and says, “I’m pretty sure there’s a lot just ahead.” She continues driving, and after about a minute, she finds a lot and sees Derek’s car. “Well, I guess you’re right. He should be somewhere near his car, right?”

Cora nods, “Something like that, yea.”

Agie parks the car and they both get out. Cora starts walking towards the woods and says, “Come on, he’s this way.”

Agie shrugs and just follows without saying anything. Agie follows Cora for a few minutes as they walk through the trees before she whispers, “So you said Derek’s here, right? Around here, somewhere?”

Cora responds in a normal voice, “Yea. He’s not too much further. I’m not really sure what he’s doing though. He’s just staying in one spot.”

“How do you know?”

“I can hear him. You could too, if you tried. He’s just up ahead, in front of us. I can hear his heartbeat. And he’s not moving around much. He was pacing when we first started walking. I could hear his footsteps, but he’s probably just leaning up against a tree now.”

Agie doesn’t respond, and instead pays attention to her sense of hearing. She can hear her own heartbeat, but that’s normal, right? She can hear her footsteps, and the chirping of some birds. And… another heartbeat. Agie stops for a second, “Holy shit! Is that your heartbeat?”

Cora stops and laughs, “I don’t know. Probably, since I’m the closest to you.”

Agie laughs in response, “Fuck. Wait, give me a second, I want to try that again.”

Cora nods and stands still patiently while Agie looks down at the floor. She listens to her heartbeat again, and then realizes that she can hear another heartbeat, coming from just where Cora is standing. She looks up at the girl with wide eyes. Cora just smiles at her. Agie keeps listening, and realizes she can hear another heartbeat, fainter. “I think I can hear Derek too. Is his heartbeat quieter because he’s further away?”

Cora nods and says, “Yea. Good job. Derek will be happy that you’re already starting to figure out how to control your senses. Come on, he’ll get cranky if we make him wait for too long.”

Agie nods, “I noticed that he does seems to look cranky… a lot of the time.”

Cora laughs, “That’s an understatement. I sometimes think that cranky is his default emotion. Stiles called him ‘Sourwolf’ once, and after he made the mistake of telling me, I laughed for about ten minutes straight.”

Agie laughed aloud, “‘Sourwolf’? I like that.”

A voice came through the trees, “Did you seriously just tell her that? God, I can’t believe you sometimes.”

Cora laughed, “Derek, I’m still making up for time. Little sisters are supposed to tease their big brothers.”

Derek’s face was as close to a grin as Agie had seen it so far, and he wrapped an arm around Cora once he came into reach. “I missed you today. It’s been a while since we spent so long apart.”

Cora nodded and wrapped her arms around her brother’s waist before replying, “Yea I know, but Agie did really great today, and I actually learned a few things at school!”

Derek nodded and looked over at Agie, “How are you feeling?”

“Good. I was overwhelmed twice today, but Cora was there both times and helped me calm down really quickly. And I just heard your heartbeat while we were walking here!”

Derek’s eyes widen and he glances down at Cora and she replies, “Yea - she managed to control her hearing enough to decipher our three separate heartbeats.”

Derek nods and say, “Good. That means we’ll have less work to do before you can gain complete control.”

Cora looks up at Derek and asks, “Hey Der, what are you doing this far into the park? I figured we would just work on controlling Agie’s senses at the apartment.”

Derek unhooks his arm from Cora’s shoulders and responds, “That was my plan too, but I wanted to take a look around here first, to see if I could find any hints of other werewolves. And look at this,” he says as he takes a few steps from them and bends down to point at something on the ground.

Agie takes a step closer and surveys what looks like a footprint, but then she notices that instead of regular toe prints, there are holes gashed into the ground right where the toes should have ended, “I’ve seen something like that before, when we went to Yosemite with the Girl Scouts,” Agie says, “It’s when an animal with claws is running. But that’s way bigger than any animal print they showed us.”

Agie gets a glimpse of her first real smile from Derek, “Agie, I might have to call Stiles and tell him that I have a new favorite Stilinski.”

Agie laughs and says, “My mom was the Stilinski. My last name is Slowaki.”

Derek shrugs, “Either way. You’re right. This is the print of a werewolf, most likely an Alpha, because the shift seems to go farther than a normal Beta shift. We grow claws on our hands and feet, but most people don’t have any problems wearing regular shoes, even with the claws. Some Alphas can achieve a full shift to the wolf form, but many only reach an in-between. Something that looks like illustrations from the Middle Ages or something, literally half man and half wolf. That’s what this print looks like, at least.”

Agie nods, “The guy who bit me definitely didn’t look like Scott did when he … changed last night.”

“When our uncle Peter was an Alpha, he was completely crazy, he had gone insane after our whole family died and he was left in a coma for years. He achieved the half-man, half-wolf shape. It takes… true balance of self in order to achieve the full wolf shape, that’s why so many aren’t able to do it.”

Cora rubs Derek’s shoulder, giving wordless support for something which Agie could only guess at. Derek nods while still looking down at the ground, and then looks up at Agie and nods again. “So we’ve found evidence of the Alpha. I still want to figure out if he’s alone or if he has a pack. And we definitely don’t want to interact with him unless we need to. I don’t trust Alphas who reject the people they bite.”

“That sounds like pretty good reasoning,” Agie agrees.

“So let’s get started with your training, then. We won’t learn too much more from staring at his footprints.” As Derek spoke, he stood and began scuffing his feet over the prints in the dirt.

“Why cover them up?” Cora asked.

“Because if we noticed them as something that doesn’t normally exist in nature, then a park ranger would definitely notice it as weird. And right now, we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves or this Alpha, especially if he goes around biting people. That’s a sure fire way to attract hunters’ attention.”

Cora nodded, but Agie’s ears perked up, “Hunters, like, people who like to hunt big game? Like… cougars?”

Agie looked between the two siblings as Cora winced and Derek frowned, “I thought Stiles would have told you, otherwise I would have mentioned it already. There are hunters. Werewolf hunters.”

Agie stared at Derek for a minute, before turning to stare at Cora. Neither one’s facial expression gave her a clue if they were joking or not. “So… you’re saying that they are people? People who hunt us?”

Derek nodded slowly.

“Human beings who hunt other human beings?”

Derek nodded again.

“And they are something we have to worry about?”

Derek nodded a third time. Agie didn’t immediately respond with another question, and Derek raised his eyebrows. “I know it sounds terrible, and it can be. But we have an alliance with a prominent family of hunters, Scott is actually sort of dating one of them, the fool, and we have a pack. Wolves in packs are much safer than Omegas, or wolves out on their own. When you’re in a pack, you know that someone always has your back. Plus, being in a pack makes you physically stronger and faster.”

“So even though our pack is far away, we still have the benefits of it.”

Agie nodded. Derek and Cora gave her time to wrap her brain around everything. “We’re still going to have to talk about the whole people hunting people thing, but am I in your pack? Or in that d-bag Alpha’s pack just because he bit me?”

Derek actually winced this time, “The Alpha will be drawn to claim you - his wolf will want you in the pack, even if he himself doesn’t. Each Beta makes the Alpha stronger, but you do have a matter of choice in this, at least. You could choose Scott to be your Alpha, but with him so far away… I’m not sure how it would work. We’re going to have to see how things go for a little while- see if this Alpha surfaces, see if he’s reasonable when it’s not the full moon. Worst case scenario, we’ll ask Scott to come down here and have him help sort things out.”

“But I can choose to be part of your pack, for now at least?”

Cora smiled and wrapped an arm around Agie’s shoulders, “Of course. And we’re pretty hard to get rid of, so you’re stuck with us anyway.”

Agie laughed and wrapped an arm around Cora’s shoulders in return. It felt good to hug Cora. Comfortable. Like when her dad or Stiles or Uncle John hugged her. She turned to Derek and asked, “So what’s going to be the first step in my training then?”

Derek guided the two girls over to a fallen tree on the far side of a clearing. “First we’ll do hearing. Since you’ve already controlled your hearing once, this should be pretty easy for you.” Derek gestured for Agie to have a seat, and both she and Cora settled themselves on the tree trunk. Derek continued, “Close your eyes. Focus your hearing on just my voice. Good. Now, focus on your heartbeat. Can you hear Cora’s heartbeat too?” Agie nods. “Good, and you can hear mine?” Agie nods again. “And what about that squirrel in the tree above us?” 

Agie takes a minute, but realizes that she can hear the squirrel munching on a nut not too far from them, and that yes, she can hear his quick little heartbeat too. She smiles and nods. 

“Good. Now. About half a mile to the west are some people. Can you tell how many there are?” 

Agie tries to really focus her hearing. She stops paying attention to the squirrel and to the sound of Cora and Derek’s heartbeats, and just lets her mind float for a minute. After a minute or so, she realizes that she can hear very faint heartbeats off in the distance. She tries to pay attention to them, to count the beats, and she’s about to say ‘three’ when she doubts herself. Is there another heartbeat that is just beating in sync with one that she hadn’t noticed? As she’s listening, she notices some heartbeats overlapping, some beating at the same time as others, and some beating at completely different speeds than others. 

She stays quiet for as long as she can before she opens her eyes, “I keep getting confused. Sometimes it sounds like four, but then I think it could be six people!”

Cora laughs out loud and Derek smiles, “It’s five, but one of them has an irregular beat in his heart, so it makes sense that it threw you off.”

Agie throws both her hands up into the air, “Yes! I am so awesome at this!”

Derek pulls a small paperback book out of his pocket and holds it up, “What does this say?”

Agie looks at the cover, “Romeo and Juliet.”

Derek nods as he takes a few steps back and opens to a random page, “What does the first line say?”

Agie smiles and reads, “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?”

Derek takes a few more steps back and turns to another page, “Now?”

Agie is a little surprised that she can read the page just as clearly as when Derek was standing directly in front of her, “It says, ‘A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.’”

Derek glances at the book and nods. He takes another few steps back and holds the book up again.

Agie reads the next line with ease, so Derek takes a few more steps back. They repeat this over the course of the whole clearing, until Derek is standing almost 50 feet away from where he started. Agie shouts out, “Okay, it’s getting too blurry now.”

Derek smiles and puts the book back in his pocket as he walks back towards the two girls. “Perfect. If you could read much more than that, I was going to start suspecting that you’re actually an X-Man or something, instead of a werewolf. Now, your sense of taste is going to be heightened as well, but that’s not really something we need to practice. Just be careful the first time you eat anything that’s particularly spicy or anything, because it might overwhelm you. And for scent, I have a few things in the car for you. Cora, would you mind getting them? Each one is in a brown paper bag. Leave them in the bags, just bring them here so that Agie can try to identify them.”

Cora nods, hops off the bench, and runs off towards where the cars are parked.

Agie watches Cora run off, and then turns back to Derek. “Can I ask you some questions?”

Derek leans against a tree a few feet from Agie and nods.

“Why did you guys leave Beacon Hills?”

Derek’s eyebrows raise in surprise, “Well…”

“Let me guess, long story?”

Derek laughs, “Actually, yes. But basically, I was forced to do some things … that I didn’t want to do. Horrible things. And other horrible things I couldn’t prevent from happening. And then my… girlfriend… turned out to be a psychopath. And Cora was seriously injured and I ended up giving up my Alpha power to save her. So… I just wanted to get out of there, to clear my head and get over everything that had happened. Cora didn’t have much tying her to Beacon Hills really, so she had no problem coming with me.”

Agie nodded, “And how long has it been since you guys left?”

“Almost six months.”

“Wow.”

“Yea. We were actually just thinking about heading back there when Stiles called about you.”

“Oh. Shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to force you guys to stay here.”

“Don’t worry about it. We weren’t set or anything, but… I think I’m ready, or at least, I think that I don’t need to stay away from there any longer. I miss… the town. And the pack.”

Agie nodded. “And you keep in touch with the pack still?”

“We didn’t at first. But your cousin is hard to avoid if he wants to be on someone’s radar.” Agie laughed and nodded, if anyone understood that, she definitely could. “We… sort of left in the middle of the night and didn’t tell anyone we were leaving… so Stiles was kind of pissed about that. He left me somewhere in the vicinity of twelve voicemails and about 30 text messages before I finally responded to him. He wouldn’t leave me alone until I finally explained everything. And, we’ve been texting ever since. Cora likes to facetime with them, but texting works well enough for me. Even though I hadn’t seen Stiles’ face in a while until last night.”

Agie smiled and nodded, “We talk all the time too.”

Derek smiled back at Agie, and then both of them turned their heads as Cora entered the clearing. 

Agie was about to say something to Cora when she was hit with a sudden smell, “Oh my god Derek! Is there old tuna fish in there?”

Derek’s grin turned slightly evil, “In one of the bags, yes. Can you tell what else there is?”

“Over the stench of fish?”

Derek nodded smugly. “I didn’t want to make it too easy.”

Cora gently places each of the six brown paper bags on the floor in front of Agie and takes several steps back. Agie wishes she could inch away from the stench of rotting fish too, but instead she tries to focus on the smells coming from the other bags. She can smell the tuna fish, clearly. And she can smell the tree beneath her, and the other pine trees surrounding her. She can smell her own shampoo and body wash and deodorant, and she realizes that she can smell similar smells on Cora and Derek. She looks at the bags and tries to hone her attention on the smells coming from them only. “Okay, so, I smell the beach, lavender, and chocolate, but I’m not sure about the others.”

Derek’s eyebrows raise up high, and Agie begins to wonder if they don’t have a whole entire sign language of their own. Cora steps towards the bags and opens three of them, revealing a seashell with a clump of seaweed still attached, a bar of purple soap, and a Hershey bar with the wrapper half peeled back. Agie bounces up and down on the tree trunk as she claps her hands. “I got over half of them right! That’s good, isn’t it?”

Derek grins and says, “Agie, it’s fabulous. Isaac couldn’t get anything other than the tuna fish the first time I tried it with him, and he had been a werewolf for a few weeks already by that point." 

"Really?" Agie asked as she cocked her head to the side. "I never really had a sensitive nose before, why would I be so good at this?" 

"Agie when you first got to school this morning, how were you able to calm down so quickly?" Cora asked. 

Agie shrugged. "I don't know. You helped me. You told me to breath and take deep breaths and stuff. And I listened, and then I was able to feel normal again." 

"I think that's why," Cora remarked. "From everything Derek has told me about when Scott and Isaac and them were first turned, things weren't exactly... calm. And Derek wasn't... very forthcoming with comfort or explanations." 

Agie looked between Derek and Cora, "What does that mean?" 

"With Scott, he didn't know what was happening and didn't trust me... because of a combination of reasons, but I also didn't do a good job of fostering a good relationship with him in the beginning. I threatened him a lot." Derek rubbed the back of his neck, "And with Isaac, I tried to do a better job, but... well, I gave him more information, but I still wasn't... very good at it." 

"You're Derek's third attempt at coaching someone through the bite," Cora pointed out.

"And you're trying to learn from your mistakes with me?" Agie asked with a slight grin.

Derek nodded. "I think one of the biggest things that I failed at with Scott and Isaac was fostering a sense of pack early on. Part of why born wolves struggle with their control less is that they usually have a strong pack bond from birth. Their whole family is there for them, and they know it. Scott felt so alone at first. And Isaac, well, he had different struggles, but I wasn't there for him enough in the beginning at all." Derek shrugged, "But Stiles... you're his family. And he is part of our pack, so that means that the bond is there already. And you and Cora get along so well. If we just..."

"You guys already weirdly feel like family," Agie interrupted.

"Good," Cora said with a grin. "Then c’mon, let’s go for a run and then we can head back.”

“A run?”

“You’ll notice that your faster and much more agile now, but you’ll only notice that if you push yourself.”

Agie glances down at her Toms, “These aren’t really running shoes.”

Cora says, “It doesn’t matter. We won’t be going too far. And you could always run barefoot if you want.”

Agie makes a grossed-out face and Derek chuckles. He holds out his hand to Agie for leverage off the tree. Agie is surprised how warm his hand is; they’ve all been sitting out in the sun and are all warm, but his skin is practically hot. Agie wipes her butt off after she’s standing to make sure that there isn’t any bark or anything stuck to it, and then she looks at Derek and Cora expectantly. “So… should we stretch or anything, or just start running?”

Cora shrugs, and Derek says, “It’s up to you. We usually just run, but we could try stretching if you want to.”

Agie shrugs and says, “Nah, let’s just go.”

Derek doesn’t respond, he just turns and starts running. Cora punches at Agie’s shoulder and then follows her brother. Agie just sighs and starts running after them. Running wasn’t something that she avoided, so much as something that she didn’t do often. She used to be part of the swim team at school, and they would run sometimes as training, but it wasn’t something that she really ever pursued. To be doing it now, with Derek and Cora, as part of her werewolf training was surreal. Agie didn’t realize that she wasn’t feeling that normal burn in her lungs as they continued running. They must have been at it for a few minutes already, and they were running at almost full sprint, and Agie didn’t feel anything. She paid attention to how her muscles shifted and moved and how the air rushed in and out of her lungs. She glanced over at Cora and Derek and was surprised at how peaceful their faces both looked. Agie decided to see how fast she could run, and pushed ahead of Derek and Cora. Cora laughed out loud and they both caught up with her. They must have been taking their time while Agie got a feel for her new speed. Agie realized that another fallen tree was quickly coming up on them, and while she was thinking about whether to run around it or over it, Derek nudged into her shoulders and pushed her towards the tree. Over it, I guess Agie thought to herself. Agie hardly had time to think about how much bigger this tree trunk was than the one they had been sitting on before. Almost as soon as Derek prodded her towards the tree, they were upon it, and Agie jumped up as she leaned forward and braced her hands on the tree as she launched herself over it. She landed on the other side of the tree on her two feet and stopped. Derek and Cora landed next to her and Agie turned to Derek, "I'm not even winded! I feel like I could run like that all day!"

Derek grinned at Agie, "You probably could."

"And we weren't even running as fast as we could, were we?"

"No. We were running faster than humans though, which is part of why we're in a park and not doing this in your neighborhood.”

Agie grins widely and Cora looks over at her, “What?”

“Growing up, I always wanted to be a superhero… and so far this all kind of seems like this is pretty damn close.”

Derek crosses his arms, “It’s not all this easy, you know, remember the hunters?”

“Yea, but every superhero has villians that they need to fight. It’s just part of the whole deal. ‘With great power comes great responsibility’ - like that.”

Cora laughs and pats Agie on the shoulder, “Remind me to never let you and Stiles in the same room. I think the world just might explode.”’

Agie punches Cora in the shoulder in return, “He’s my cousin, you know, we have been in the same room together before.”

“Yea, but I’m not sure I could take it,” Cora jokes.

“Girls, you getting hungry?” Derek asks, “I noticed a burger place just outside the park, want to grab dinner there?”

Agie and Cora both nod and run back to the cars. Once they get near the cars, they slow down so that they wouldn’t look suspicious in case anyone from the road noticed them. 

Once they got back to their cars, Agie grabbed her bag and glanced at her cell phone. She had six missed calls and eight text messages. Most of the missed calls were from Jason, but two of them were from her step-mom. She flipped over to the text messages and saw Jason first asking if she wanted to hang out, then asking why she wasn’t answer, then saying that he was going to get dinner with Brian, his best friend, and Cheryl, and that she could join them if she ever felt like getting back to him. Fuck him, Agie thought to herself. After ignoring her in favor of his video game last night, she didn’t mind ignoring him for a while. She also had a text from her step-mom asking why she hadn’t come home and a message from her dad asking if she was ignoring her step-mom again. Agie glances at Derek’s car as he pulls out of the parking lot and asks in a normal voice, “Hey Derek, Cora, can you hear me?”

Agie hears Cora’s laugh and Derek responds, “Yes, just like you can hear us. But pay attention to the road too, I don’t want you rear-ending me if I have to stop or something.”

“You know, this is pretty awesome that we can talk without calling each other or anything.”

“It is,” Derek agrees, “but it does have a limit, so cell phones do come in handy a lot of times too.”

Agie nods, and then realizes that neither of them can see her. “So I just checked my cell phone and I don’t even want to begin to describe how stupidly dramatic my life gets sometimes for no reason.”

“Did Cheryl have a problem with you not hanging out today?” Cora asks.

“Actually, no. But my dumb-ass boyfriend called and texted a whole bunch of times, and he’s getting dinner with some friends and Cheryl now.”

“Do you want to go meet up with them?” Derek asked. Agie suddenly missed talking to them face to face. At first she had thought that Derek wasn’t very expressive, but after just spending a whole afternoon with him, she realized that his face was actually very expressive, even if she couldn’t always interpret his emotion from his voice. She wasn’t sure if he was offering to let her off the hook because he was trying to be nice, or if he really wanted her to go, or what.

“No. He blew me off last night… which led to me walking home alone and getting bit, so I’m not really in a hurry to hang out with him again. Plus, he didn’t apologize at any point today in school. He hardly even said hi to me.”

“All right, good,” Derek responded, and that time, Agie swore, she could hear a grin in his voice.

As they were leaving the park, they both hit a red light, and while they were waiting for it to turn green, Agie pulled out her cell phone and texted Stiles quickly, “k so derek is unfairly hot” in the few seconds before the light turned green and she began following Derek as he turned out of the park. She knew the burger place they were going to, and it would only take them about two more minutes to get there. 

Agie wasn’t surprised to get a text back from Stiles in under thirty seconds “I know rite???”. Agie glanced at the reply, and put her phone back down. She knew Derek was attractive; it had been one of the first things that she had noticed, but getting the confirmation from her presumably straight-but-she’d-always-had-doubts cousin, well, it definitely opened the window for a possible story. Agie glanced down at her phone again when she got another text from Stiles, “was that way 2 enthusiastic?” followed quickly by another text, “I swear… I was just agreeing objectively”. 

Agie laughed out loud and as she pulled into a spot a few cars away from Derek’s in the parking lot, she texted back a quick reply, “Cousin u can lie 2 urself but ur not tricking me”. Agie got out of the car and tucked her phone into her pocket as she hooked her bag over her shoulder and started walking towards Derek and Cora.

“So, what’s good here?” Cora asked.

“The burgers,” Agie replies, and the two girls laugh at each other. “C’mon, you have to see the menu, it’s all creative and stuff.”

Agie ended up ordering her favorite, a medium rare burger with avocado, pepper-jack cheese and roasted red peppers with waffle fries. Derek got a bacon cheeseburger with waffle fries, and Cora ordered a medium rare burger with bleu cheese and onion rings on it – she also ordered a side of onion rings to go with it.

The trio sat down at a table and began eating. Agie turned to Cora, “So, tell me about how Stiles is doing.”

Derek choked quietly, and Cora asked, “I thought you guys talked all the time?”

Agie nodded and replies, “We do, but he somehow forgot to mention that he’s part of a werewolf pack, so I just wasn’t sure if there was anything else going on in his life that I didn’t know about, like a girlfriend… or a boyfriend.”

Derek choked again on his food, and grabbed his soda and started drinking in with his eyebrows furrowed.

Agie turned to Derek and tried to look innocent instead of pleased, “You okay?”

Derek nods his head furiously and continues to drink silently.

Cora grins wickedly at Derek, and Agie swears to herself that she’ll ask the girl about Stiles sometime when Derek isn’t present too. Cora replies, “He isn’t dating anyone, or at least, wasn’t when we left. He seems to be done pining over Lydia too, for all that I can tell.”

Agie nods, “That’s good. She’s pretty and all, but never seemed at all interested in him. Her loss, but whatever.”

Cora’s grin doesn’t fade as she asks, “I noticed you asked about girlfriends and boyfriends… do you know something that I don’t?”

Agie shakes her head, “Nothing that he’s ever confirmed officially, but I’ve always had my suspicions.”

Cora grins and nods, “You definitely have known him longer, but I got the feeling that he was… keeping his options open.”

Derek shoves the last handful of his fries in his mouth and stands up and grabs his garbage, “I think I’m done eating – you guys almost done?” He mumbles out through his mouthful of food.

Agie nods and says, “Sure. So… I guess I’ll see you at school tomorrow, right Cora? Are we going to be training like this a lot?”

Derek nods, “I’d like to do it every day until you have complete control.”

“That sounds good. Luckily, I didn’t have any plans for tomorrow after school, so I don’t have to lie to get out of it, but I do have work this weekend everyday… so we’ll have to squeeze it in sometime, is that cool?”

Derek nods again, “We’ll make it work somehow.”

Cora pulls her phone out, “Agie, give me your phone number, and I’ll give you ours, just so that if you have any problems or anything, you can let us know.”

Agie gives Cora her cell phone number and takes her own out as well and programs in Cora and Derek’s phone numbers. She puts Cora’s name in as “Cora New Girl” and Derek in as “Stiles’ BF.” She grins as she slips her phone back into her pocket.

Agie waves to Cora and Derek as they all get into the cars. Cora waves back and Derek just nods. As Agie is driving home, she turns on her bluetooth and calls her dad. She hadn’t spoken to him yesterday, and she didn’t want to ignore his text message from earlier. 

He picked up on the second ring, “Hey sweetie, everything okay?”

“Hey dad, yea, everything’s great, I just didn’t have my phone with me before. I didn’t realize I had left it in the car so I didn’t see Jessica’s calls. How’s your day going?”

“Good, good. Made great time on this run, so I should be home tomorrow night.”

“Awesome dad, I miss you.”

“I miss you too, sweetie pie. How has your week been going?”

“It’s been crazy, you know, the normal stuff.”

“Uh huh. And have you been avoiding Jessica the whole time I’ve been gone?”

“Yea, mostly. But it’s just so that I won’t be rude to her. I swear! I’m doing it so that I can stick to my promise to you to not be mean to her!”

Agie’s dad laughs and says, “Fine. Fine. And school has been good too?”

“Yea, everything’s been good. I actually made a new friend today. Her name’s Cora - she’s new at school.”

“Oh yea? That’s great that you made a new friend. When did she move to LA?”

“Uh a few months ago, I think, but she just transfered to my school. She’s actually from up in Beacon Hills.”

“Really? Does she know Stiles?”

“Yea - that’s actually how we became friends. Or how we met. Stiles gave me a call the other night and let me know that one of his friends was actually coming to school with me.”

“They were friends? That’s so funny - it’s such a small world. So is she a junior then, just like Stiles is?”

“Yea, she is. Dad, I just pulled up in front of the house, so I’m going to head in. I love you, and I’ll see you tomorrow night?”

“Yea, sweetie. I should be home sometime after six. Love you, munchkin.”

“Love you too dad.” Agie hung up the phone and grabbed her bag as she hopped out of the car. She made her way into the house and headed straight up to her bedroom. She pulled out her science books and swore to herself that she wasn’t going to get up from her desk until she finished her lab.


	4. Chapter 4

After finishing her lab and getting in some studying for the social studies test that was coming up, Agie got ready to go to sleep and when she laid down in her bed, she paid attention to the things she could hear. There were crickets outside, and she could hear the heartbeats of her stepmother and stepsister, and a heartbeat in her backyard. Or was that her neighbor’s house? She concentrated and counted four slow heartbeats, that must be the four people who lived next door, and maybe hearts slowed down when you sleep?

So that still didn't explain why she heard someone in her backyard. She slowly counted each of the heartbeats in the houses around her, and they all seemed right for how many people she knew lived in each house. So who could be hiding in her backyard?

Agie slowly got up from her bed and creeped over to the window. She looked out into the dark backyard and saw a dark shape standing all the way by the back fence. Agie opened her window an inch or so and let the night air drift in. She sifted through the different scents... but she must be wrong, because it smells like Derek. Why would Derek be in her backyard?

Agie softly walked back over to her bedside table and sat on her bed as she texted Stiles, “hey this might sound super weird, but i think derek is hiding out in my backyard?”

Agie sat and listened to Derek’s heartbeat and his soft breaths as she waited for Stiles’ response. Now that she was paying attention, the heartbeat did seem familiar - she figured it was because she had paid particular attention to it earlier today. Her text notification went off, so she glanced down at Stiles’ response, “HAHAHA that sounds like him.”

Agie threw her hands up in the air in exasperation before texting back, “wtf is he hiding in my backyard for??”

She shifted back on her bed so that she was leaning against the headboard and tried to focus on the different smells around her. Maybe she needed to do her laundry tomorrow- the hamper wasn’t full yet, but she could definitely smell a funk coming from that end of her room. And maybe she didn’t need to have quite so many scented lotions and perfumes on her desk - the scent was a little distracting. 

Stiles responded with, “he prob wants to make sure u don't lose control or anything - scott did a few times when he was 1st bit”

Agie nods, “but y is he hiding in the dark? he didn't tell me he'd be out there either”.

The smells from outside are much more pleasant than the many aromas in her room. She can smell the earthiness of the grass and the trees, and the smell of Derek - was that cologne or just his body wash? She was positive it was him now. But why would he be hiding out all shady in her backyard like that?

Stiles texts back, “it's in his nature - he likes to act like a creeper sometimes. u can prob talk to him. or ignore him” which is quickly followed by, “so how was ur 1st day as 1 of the supernatural?”

Agie laughs and types back, “pretty normal actually. derek and cora r cool. we had training after school- turns out i'm good at this!”

“what? being a werewolf?”

“yea”

“that’s pretty cool. i swear scott was so bad at it all at 1st. but srsly. coach is kicking our asses this week so i need my beauty sleep. u forgive me?”

Agie laughs and types back, “course. Love u”

“Love u too”

She places her phone back on her end table and then walks back to her window. Agie opens the window a little further and whispers, “Derek, I have heard from reliable sources that you like to be a creeper, but are you really just going to hang out there and listen to me sleep?”

Derek coughs quietly and replies quietly, “Did you text Stiles? I’m going to kill that kid someday.”

“Not anytime soon, please,” Agie replies with a grin.

“I’m not- I’m not listening to you sleep, I just want to make sure you don’t lose control. Sometimes it happens while you’re sleeping because your defenses are down.”

“I think I’ll be okay. But are you really going to stand out there all night?”

“Uh… yes.”

“That’s kind of stupid. I mean, you could at least come in here and sit down.”

“Into your bedroom?”

“Yes.”

“That would be weird.”

Agie laughs harshly, “It’s weird to be in my bedroom, but not weird to be in the backyard?”

Derek sighs and Agie can hear what sounds like his feet scuffing on the grass, “It would be weird for me to just sit in your bedroom while you sleep because we’ve only known each other for 24 hours. And you’re a teenage girl.”

“Yes, a teenage girl with a boyfriend, who is not interested in you other than as a friend, and who is inviting you to sit down instead of standing all night long while you try to be a white knight and protect me from myself. So, are you coming in or no? Because I am kind of tired.”

Derek laughs, and Agie can hear him actually walking this time. She watches as he slowly enters the light cast from her neighbor’s back light, and as he elegantly and silently jumps up onto the roof. She steps back to allow him space so he can swing in through her window. “There. That’s not so bad is it? You can sit on the swivel chair by my desk or the bean bag over there. Your choice.”

Derek looks at both, and opts for the desk chair. He sits down in it and then gestures at her bed. Agie closes the window most of the way and then gets back into bed, “Well, good night Derek.” Agie lays down and worries that it’ll be weird that there’s a guy that she’s only known for a day sitting in her bedroom while she goes to sleep, but then she figures that in the past 24 hours she’s also been attacked by a werewolf, become a werewolf, spent the day at school acting like everything was normal, and then spent the afternoon training to be a werewolf. She falls asleep figuring that she’s just going to have to learn to redefine “normal.”

**

Agie woke up to her alarm ringing, and when she glanced over towards her desk, she saw that Derek wasn’t there anymore. She shut her alarm off and sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes, when she received a text message. “I hopped out of the window so you could get ready for school. I’ll see you when I drop Cora off.” Agie smiled when she noticed that Stiles was right - apparently Derek does text with perfect spelling and punctuation. She thought it was cute.

Agie took a quick shower and got dressed, and hoped to run downstairs to the kitchen to grab breakfast without having to run into her step-mom or step-sister. She had been doing a really good job the past few days, and had managed to literally not see one of them. But just as she was about to step into the kitchen, she knew her luck had run out - she could hear the two heartbeats just ahead of her in the kitchen. Damn she thought to herself, followed quickly by, hey this could actually be amazing, if only I had thought to pay attention to their heartbeats before entering the kitchen, I could have avoided the completely. 

Agie sighed to prepare herself and stepped into the kitchen. Her step-mom looked up and smiled widely, “Sweetheart! Good morning! I was beginning to worry that you were avoiding us.”

“No. I’ve just been busy.” Agie replied tersely. She grabbed a water bottle and a package of Pop Tarts and began walking towards the back door, “I’ve got to run, I’ll see you after school.”

“Oh honey, wait. Would you mind driving Connie to school today? The electrician is coming to fix the basement light and I have to be here just in case he comes early.” 

Agie paused with her hand on the door and looked back at her step-family. “Fine, just for today.”

Jessica grinned widely and turned to Connie, “Well finish up your breakfast sweetheart, Agie looks like she wants to leave now.” Connie nods and takes her almost empty cereal bowl to the sink. She turns back and grabs her backpack. Jessica asks, “Agie, dear, have you heard from your father lately?”

Agie nods and says, “Yea, we spoke for a couple minutes yesterday. Connie, you ready? Let’s go.”

Agie walks quickly out the backdoor and around the side of the house to where she parked her car. She unlocks the doors as she thinks about Jessica. Agie could have mentioned that her dad would be coming home tonight, but she knew if she had done that, Jessica would have just spent the whole day cleaning and cooking so the house looked perfect when her dad got home. Because that’s what she did every time her dad came home. And then she led him to believe that that’s how the house was all the time when he was gone. Agie just hoped that he came home early once with Jessica knowing that he was coming so that he could see how the house really was when he was gone: messy, with no real food in the kitchen, and no meals prepared at night. Jessica had him fooled with her facade of the perfect stay-at-home-mom-and-housewife, but Agie was the one who had to live with her on a daily basis, and she just couldn’t stand it.

“So are we going to school, or are you just going to stare out the windshield without moving like a dumbass?” Connie asked in her stupid little voice.

Agie sighed in frustration that she’d have to spend the next ten to fifteen minutes locked in this contained space with her little step-sister, “Shut up” she growled, and was surprised when it sounded much more like a growl than normal. She glanced over at Connie to see if she noticed anything strange, but the girl was just staring out the window with a pout on her face. Agie turned the car on and backed out of the driveway.

Luckily they got almost all of the way to school before Agie was forced to interact with Connie again. Connie put down her iPhone after doing god-knows-what for the past ten minutes and turned to Agie, “Listen. I know you didn’t want to drive me to school today, and thanks, or whatever, but just because we came to school together doesn’t mean we have to talk or anything today. And I’ll get a ride home from one my friends after school.”

Agie tires to count to ten so she doesn’t get tempted to rip Connie’s head off, because she has an uneasy feeling that she might actually be able to do that now, and instead replies, “Great. So we’ll act just like we do everyday. We don’t know each other. That way we can both be happy.”

Connie nods and says, “I just didn’t want you feeling like you should say bye to me or anything. And once we park, I’m not walking in with you. I’m going to go find my friends.”

Agie pulls into the school parking lot and asks, “You know you’re the freshman, right? I don’t want to hang out with you any more than you want to hang out with me. I have other shit going on in my life, you are like, the least important thing in it.”

Connie nods as Agie parks her car and replies, “Whatever” as she gets out of the car. Agie closes her eyes and counts to ten for the second time. The passenger door opens and Agie is about to snap at Connie when she opens her eyes and realizes it’s Cora. Agie looks passed her and see’s Derek sitting in his car next to her. She must have not heard them as she was trying to calm down.

“Everything okay?” Cora asks.

Agie looks up and points, “The barbie in the hot pink mini-skirt and ridiculous matching platform heels is my little step-sister. She tries my patience on a normal day, and I had to drive her to school today so that my step-mother could do god-knows-what, instead of actually parenting her child.”

Cora makes a face like she smells something rotten and asks, “Is that what she really wears to school?”

Agie nods and leans over to look at Derek, “So I guess I passed the test last night? I didn’t try to murder anyone in my sleep?”

Derek grins and shakes his head, “No, you were fine. And I actually ended up falling asleep too.”

Agie grins and says, “Look. I just sat in the car with that barbie monstrosity and I wanted to tear her head off the whole time, which, by the way, can we do that? No, wait, I don’t want to know. And I didn’t. So, I’m proud of me.”

Cora nods and says, “Good. You should be. But we should also get going so I’m not late on my second day of school.”

Agie and Cora get out of the car and wave at Derek, “Enjoy school today!” he shouts after them.

As Agie and Cora walk towards the school building, Connie steps towards them, “Agie, you should really tell your new friend to go shopping. Her clothing is so outdated. It's honestly embarrassing to even be near her.” Connie grins and looks back at her friends, who all share identical grins on their faces.

Agie grinds her teeth and turns to Cora, “See? Aren’t you proud of me?”

Cora’s face goes back to the ‘I just drank spoiled milk’ look and she nods and says to Connie, “Hi, I’m Cora. I would say it’s nice to meet you, but it clearly isn’t. Now get your ass out of my way before I knock you over and break one of your ankles.”

Connie gasps and is about to speak, when Cora simply begins walking forward. Connie practically jumps out of the way to avoid being mowed down by Cora. Connie may be wearing stupid five-inch heels, but she was still an inch or two shorter than Cora. Agie grins as she walks past Connie, “By the way, since you’ve just nullified our agreement, I might have to stop by and visit you and your friends a few times today.”

Connie and her friends all looked horrified at the concept, but none of them said anything as Agie and Cora finally made their way into the school.

Cora turns back to Agie, “I think I see where part of your control comes from. If you could manage not to kill that girl on a regular basis, you shouldn’t have too much trouble controlling the wolf once it starts giving you heightened urges.”

Agie nods, “That, I believe.”

The two girls wave as Cora walks into her homeroom class and Agie continues on to her own.


	5. Chapter 5

Their afternoon goes pretty much the same as it had the previous day, but with a different location. Derek texts Cora and Agie at the end of school and writes, “Come to the apartment after school. We’ll do some training here, and once it gets dark we’ll go for a run in the park again.”

As Agie meets up with Cora, she realizes that she hadn’t stopped in on Connie at any point during the day. She stops by some of Jason’s friends who are in the band and asks them if they wouldn’t mind torturing some uppity freshmen. They seem excited by the idea, and promise not to do anything too inappropriate. Agie is not sure if she would care either way, but feels satisfied in knowing that whatever they do, Connie will not enjoy it.

Agie and Cora get into the car and Cora navigates them to the apartment that she and Derek are living in. “I’ve actually never been in this part of town before,” Agie observes.

“It’s an okay area. Derek hates apartment buildings because of all the smells and noises, but this one is brand new, and it has sound-proof walls that actually manage to keep most noises out, so it’s not as bad as most buildings.”

“That makes sense,” Agie says.

The girls race each other up the stairs instead of taking the elevator, and Cora beats Agie to the third floor landing. They’re laughing as they walk down the hallway and Derek opens the door and asks, “Could you have made any more noise coming up here? I thought there were elephants in the stairway.”

“Hardee-har-har.” Agie says as she drops her backpack on the floor. “Hey, it’s really nice in here.”

Cora nods and smiles, “The place came furnished, don’t think that we had anything to do with how nice it looks. If it were up to Derek, we’d be living in some nearly-abandoned loft like his last place in Beacon Hills.”

Derek pushes at Cora’s shoulder, “Hey that place had charm. There was exposed brick. And the windows let in a lot of natural light.”

Cora laughed and went to push at Derek’s shoulder in return, but he ducked out of the way quickly and dashed behind Cora. She spun, laughing and lunged at him again. He dodged her swipe and jumped over the couch. Cora jumped over the couch too, but instead of dodging her this time, Derek just opened her arms and caught her, redirecting her momentum and throwing her onto the loveseat sitting at a right angle to the first couch. In between laughs, Cora told Agie, “Just ask Stiles about some of the places Derek has decided to live. I think ‘abandoned train depot’ might be my favorite. I practically had to strong-arm him into living in a place this decent looking.”

Derek turned and sat on Cora’s stomach and she let out a big “ooph!”

He turned to look at Agie while still perched on top of a wiggling Cora, “We’re being horrible hosts, could I offer you a drink or something?”

Agie laughed as she watched Cora flail her arms and legs, but Derek didn’t budge. “Sure - how about a soda or something?”

Derek nodded and got up off Cora and walked past Agie into the kitchen. Cora flung a pillow at him as he walked away, but it missed and fell to the floor. Agie bent down and picked it up and tossed it back to Cora, who just grinned at her. 

“You guys play fight like that a lot?”

Cora shook her head, “We’ve really only just started. We hadn’t seen each other for years, after our family died, when I was with the foster family. We’ve only been living with each other for a couple months now. At first, well, things were bad in Beacon Hills for Derek, that’s why we ended up leaving, but I think being out on the road has been really good for him,” then she raised her voice slightly, “don’t you agree, Derek?”

Agie turned towards the kitchen as Derek replied, “Definitely. I miss certain things about Beacon Hills, but I’m definitely glad we left when we did. I just needed time away from it.”

Cora turned towards Agie and mouthed “He misses Stiles,” and before Agie had a chance to respond, Derek walked in carrying three glasses of soda. Derek set them down on the coffee table and asked, “So, how did school go today?”

Agie picks up the soda and takes a sip, “Good. No freak-outs or anything. Other than wanting to kill my step-sister, but that’s actually normal.”

Derek nods and says, “I can definitely empathize.” Derek takes a few sips of his drink and then says, “So, today I want to try working on shifting.”

Agie puts down her soda in surprise, “Really? Already?”

“Yes. You did so well yesterday, I figure we can jump to the harder stuff.”

“So… uh… how do we start?”

Derek put down his soda and held his hand out to Agie with the palm down. Agie watched as black claws slowly extended outwards from Derek’s fingernails. Agie looked over as Cora raised his hands as well and slowly extended similar black claws from her nails. Agie lifted her hands up as well and looked at her own fingernails. “Okay, so how do I do this?”

“Feel deep inside you. The wolf is always there. If you let yourself, you could completely lose control to the wolf, and it would take over. That’s what we want to avoid. But you have to find an anchor, something to keep yourself grounded to yourself. Then, you’ll be able to control the shift, to only shift parts at a time.”

Agie closed her eyes and paid attention to herself. There was definitely something… different. It almost felt like there was another voice inside her head. She stayed quiet for a minute and felt the urge to let that voice take over. She took a deep breath and let that voice take over. She opened her eyes and was surprised to see that the whole world was suddenly red-tinted. Agie looked down at her hands and saw that she had similar claws as she had seen on Derek and Cora. Agie jumped up off the couch. She wanted to run. Or to jump over things. She felt like she could jump over a building right now. Or maybe tear something apart. She felt strong. Stronger than she’d ever felt before, in her whole life. She bent her knees slightly to prepare to jump over the coffee table so she could escape from this room - it was too small, suddenly. She wanted to be out in the open, to see sky and feel a breeze. 

A hand suddenly landed on her forearm, and she snarled as she looked down at it and followed the hand up to Derek’s face. How dare he try to stop her? She saw his mouth move, and heard words coming out of it, but they were meaningless. He just wanted to stop her from reaching freedom. Agie pushed off Derek’s restraining hand and lept over the coffee table, except suddenly Cora was standing in front of her. Cora simply lifted her hands as if to slow Agie down, and Agie watched as her mouth moved as well.

“Agie…. Agie…. breathe…” 

Agie's wolf didn't want to listen. The urge to run pulsed through her anew and she dodged past Cora and dashed for the door. She had just grabbed the door handle when two arms wrapped around her and lifted her off the ground. Agie flailed her legs, but with her arms pinned to her side, she couldn't do much other than snarl. 

Cora approached her slowly, steadily murmuring the same words. Agie slowly became aware that Cora was counting slowly, almost like she was singing a lullaby. Cora had coached Agie through breathing and counting to ten a few times already, so the familiarity of the words began to slowly sink in.She knew that she could escape out the window after the breathing. Something about Cora’s demeanor just inspired her wolf to cooperate. 

Agie closed her eyes and counted to ten while slowly breathing in and out. When she opened her eyes again, the red shrouding the world had receded, and there was just the barest hint of red around her peripheral vision. Agie stared down at her hands again, and saw that the claws were still there, but the overwhelming need to escape and run free had diminished. She still wanted to run wild, but she could push that desire towards the back of her mind now. 

Cora reached out her hands and slowly put them on Agie’s upper arms, “Agie, you with us again?”

Agie took another deep breath and nodded. Derek slowly released her and stepped around so he was in front of her too. Her eyes were immediately drawn to his chest, where four bloody slashes cut through his shirt. “Oh my god! Derek! I didn’t do that, did I?”

Derek smiled ruefully, “You did. But don’t worry. I’ve already healed.” He moved the shirt aside so Agie could see his healed skin through the cuts in the fabric. Derek reached down and took one of Agie’s hands, “You’re still partially shifted. See?” Agie looked down again at her claws and nodded. “Where did your wolf want you to go? What did you want to do?”

Agie shrugged before responding, “I wanted to run. To escape from here and be free. And possibly to tear things apart, too. But that was secondary to just wanted to run freely.”

Derek gave a lopsided grin, “Well, that’s not so bad. It might still be a little too early to expect you to be able to control the shift, no matter how good you might be at using your senses. Isaac was my first Beta to gain control of his wolf, and it still took him a while. At least now you know what control feels like, so it should be easier to maintain, even if you're not able to get it back by yourself yet.”

“I think hearing Cora tell me to breath helped me to calm down, because that’s what she always says at school if I’m about to freak out.”

“That makes sense,” Derek replies, “Cora speaking to you like that was something you could relate to the purely human part of your mind. It reminded you - and grounded you - in something that’s more normal.”

Agie nodded and looked back down at her hands, “So… how do I get rid of the claws?”

Cora laughed and said, “It’s just part of you now. Focus on your hands being normal, and they’ll go back to normal.”

“It’s that easy?”

“Just believe that it is, and it will be.”

Agie squints at Cora for a second and says, “If you’re pulling my leg, I’m going to sit on you like Derek did before.” Cora and Derek both laugh, but she doesn’t respond and closes her eyes instead. She focuses on how her hands normally look, with the chipped nail polish and the one scar on her middle finger. She opens her eyes and sees that Cora was right, that her hands had returned back to normal.

“Good,” Derek says as he starts walking down the hallway, away from the two girls, “now try to turn them back into claws.” Just as he’s about to step into a room, Agie sees him lift his shirt off. Agie could tell that Derek had a good body, but seeing just a glimpse of those muscles without a shirt on confirmed her assessment. She was definitely going to have to call Stiles later. 

Agie looked down at her hands again and focused on the black claws growing out from her nails again. She wanted to see how sharp and strong they were, not to tear or destroy things, just to know. She watched in awe as her nails changed color and grew before her eyes. She took one claw and tapped it softly against her arm, and was surprised at how hard and sharp the nail felt. She slowly pressed the nail into her skin until she felt a small burst of pain and a drop of blood welled up. She glanced up at Cora, who was simply watching her, and then back down at her arm. She watched as the small puncture wound slowly closed up, and within seconds, there was no trace that she had been cut at all, other than the single droplet of blood on on her arm. Derek walked up the hall wearing a new shirt and handed her a tissue without saying anything. 

Agie silently wiped the blood off her arm and continued to stare at her unblemished skin in wonder, “Do we always heal this quickly?”

Derek nodded, “For the most part. Obviously, if it’s a more serious injury, it takes longer. And any wound inflicted by an Alpha takes longer to heal as well.”

“At what point… do we not heal? Like… can we regenerate limbs or anything?”

Derek shakes his head, “Not full on regeneration, but so long as part of the limb remains, the whole thing can regrow. And… well I’ve never really tested how close you can get to death without actually dying--”

Cora scoffs, “I’ve seen you be impaled before.”

Derek scowls at his sister, “All right, fine, some pretty awful things have happened to me. I think… so long as your brain is intact, and you’re breathing, you can heal from pretty much anything.”

“Except wolfsbane,” Cora chimes in.

“Yes, except wolfsbane. But even that can be cured.”

Agie raises her hand, “Wait, we can heal from everything except ‘wolfsbane’? Why does that sound like some poison that was created solely to kill us?”

“Because that’s pretty much what it is,” Cora replies. “Except it wasn’t really created, so much as it’s a plant that grows, naturally. It’s just really, really good at killing us.”

Agie put her two hands over her face and rubbed her eyes for a few seconds, “Let me take a guess…. the hunters use wolfsbane, don’t they?”

Derek and Cora both nod.

“But I shouldn’t be too worried, because I’m with you guys, and there’s a pact with an important hunter family because Scott was sort of dating one of them?”

Identical nods again.

Agie looks out the windows and asks, “Is it time to go running yet? I think running would make me feel better.”

Derek laughs and shakes his head, “How about I order some Chinese food, and then we’ll go? I think it’s still just a little too early.”

Cora jumps at the TV remote, “Awesome! There’s a Top Chef marathon on today, we can watch that!”

Agie smiles and sits down onto the couch next to Cora while Derek pulls a Chinese menu out of a stack of mail on the table next to the door. “So, what do you guys want?”

“General Tso’s” Cora shouts.

“Pork lo mein and egg rolls?” Agie asks. 

Derek nods and pulls his cell phone out to call the restaurant. After a few minutes, he settles on the couch next to Agie. They contentedly watch as the contestants on tv run around each other in a magnificently stocked kitchen and try to out-cook each other using the most exotic and delicious sounding ingredients Agie has ever heard of. 

Agie’s text notification goes off, and when she glances down sees a text from her dad, “stupid ass traffic. looks like I won’t be home until closer to 9.”

“Damn, I forgot my dad was coming home tonight!”

Derek looks over at her, “Do you need to go?”

Agie shakes her head, “No, he just said he was stuck in traffic and won’t be home until nine-ish.”

“Good,” Cora states as she leans over and places her head on Agie’s shoulder, “That gives us plenty of time for Top Chef, then Chinese food, and then running.”

Agie grins and drops her cell phone in her lap. She snuggles down and puts her head on Derek’s shoulder, and the three of them watch in peace, all snuggled against each other.

"I'm sorry I hurt you, Derek," Agie murmured quietly. 

Derek rubbed his jaw against her head for a minute before responding, "Don't worry about it. I rushed you to try to control the shift. We can wait a few more days before trying again. If you practice with just your nails or just your eyes, it will help you with the feeling of control without actually letting your wolf take the driver's seat."

Cora chuckled at that and Agie nodded. She didn't like the idea of not being in control, but she felt better that it was apparently a normal struggle to have. She knew she could do this. 

The food arrives in another ten minutes, and Derek gets up off the couch to pay the delivery guy. He comes back and plops down on the couch and turns to Cora, “I assume you don’t want to stop watching to eat at the table like a real human?”

Cora shakes her head and makes grabby hands at the bag of food. Derek laughs and starts taking items out of the bag. 

Agie asks, “Derek, how much was my stuff? Let me grab my bag so I can give you some money for it.”

Derek shakes his head and says, “Don’t worry about it.”

“No, but Derek, I can’t let you pay for my dinner.”

“Seriously. Don’t worry about it. I’ve got dinner.”

Agie glanced down at the food and shrugged, “Okay, but I’m buying next time.”

Derek shrugs and nods. Agie’s phone notification goes off again, and she pulls it out of her pocket again. “hey grl whatcha up to?”

Agie grins and turns to Derek and Cora as they’re pulling their food out, “Stiles just texted me to ask how I’m doing. I’m going to send him a picture of us eating Chinese food to make him jealous.”

Cora smiled and leans next to Agie, “Go for it!”

Agie pulls up the camera on her phone and holds it out to take a picture of them, “Derek, come on, get in the picture!”

Derek scowls and grumbles, “I’m eating.”

Agie wraps one arm around his neck and pulls him closer. She snaps a picture as Derek shoves some of his food into his mouth. Agie pulls the phone back and looks at the picture. “Hey, how come our eyes are all flashy like that?”

Cora shrugs as she starts poking at her chicken, “It’s just what our eyes do. You know how dogs’ eyes always glow in pictures? We flash like that. It makes it a bitch for us to get official IDs and things like that.”

Agie looks to Derek for confirmation. He shrugs and says, “It also makes it really tough for cops to get mugshots of us.”

“You know, sometimes you say things…” Agie starts, but is interrupted by Cora.

“You’re just creepy sometimes. But it’s okay. We love you anyway.”

Agie nods as she sends the picture to Stiles. She puts the phone down as she reaches for her lo mein and the chopsticks, and starts eating as one of the contestants is kicked off the show. Cora curses at the television and Agie gets a response text from Stiles in all caps “OMG THAT IS THE CUTEST PIC I HAVE EVER SEEN OMGGG”

Agie grins and sets the photo as her screen background. Another text from Stiles comes in, “Is derek being a grump all the time?”

“No only sometimes. i swear. he put on the face 4 u.” Agie kept eating her lo mein in between texts from Stiles, and Cora and Derek continued to eat in relative silence, with only the occasional commentary from Cora as the next episode started playing. 

After they finished eating their fill, which ended being almost all of the food, Derek looked at the time and said, “We could probably finish this episode. Then we’ll go running.”

Cora pumped her arms in celebration and pushed Agie back into the couch, “Come one, I want to cuddle again. That was super comfy.”

Agie nods in agreement and looks over to Derek so that the three of them can lean on each other again. This time, Derek lifts his arm us so that he can wrap it around both girls while Agie cuddles against his chest. She can recognize his general attractiveness, but it’s also so comfortable, and Derek isn’t treating her any differently than he treats his younger sister, so it’s easy to think of him in a brotherly way, instead of getting thrown off by his apparent hot-and-single status. 

**  
After the run, Agie says good-night to Derek and Cora and drives home. She’s hoping to beat her father home so that she can be the first one to greet him when he gets home. She’s excited to see that his car isn’t in front of the house yet, so she runs inside and takes a quick shower, keeping her hearing focused so that she’ll hear if his car pulls up in front of the house.

She has time to get dressed in sweatpants and a tank top before she hears a car slowing down in front of her house. Agie slides into her slippers as she rushes out of her bedroom and down the stairs. She runs past Jessica and Connie in the living room as they watch tv, and pulls the front door open just as her father is about to reach for it. He laughs and drops his bag as Agie launches herself into his arms. 

“Agnieska, my darling, I’ve missed you so much.” He pulls back and looks at Agie’s face, “Did you change… something? You look different.”

Agie looks down at her feet quickly and wonders if her father can tell that she’s a werewolf now - Cora had said that there was no noticeable difference, but maybe… maybe her father just knew her well enough to notice? Agie shook her head no, just as Jessica walked into the foyer where father and daughter were still embracing.

“David, I didn’t know you’d be home tonight!” She gushes as she walks towards him. Agie’s father grins at his wife as he turns to hug her as well. Jessica places a chaste kiss on his lips before continuing, “I wish I’d known you would be home tonight, I would have made extra dinner! Unfortunately we don’t have any leftovers, but are you hungry? I’ll order Chinese or something. Oh, I wish we didn’t eat the whole dinner.”

Agie snorts because she knows that Jessica is lying; she can easily smell the wrappers from the taco place that delivers that were sitting in the garbage can. 

Agie’s father shakes his head and says, “Don’t worry about it. I ate earlier because I wasn’t sure how late I’d be getting in. Agie, how was dinner?”

“I don’t know - I ate over Cora’s house.” Agie replies as she shrugs.

Agie’s father nods as Jessica asks, “Oh, who is Cora?”

“She’s Agie’s new friend,” Agie’s father replies.

“How come you never mentioned her, sweetie?” Jessica asks Agie.

“Because you never asked,” Agie replied, as she wrapped an arm around her dad, and added “but you can ask Connie who she is.”

Connie made a disgusted face as she walked into the room, “Hi dad!” and hugged Agie’s father. “I don’t know who any of your stupid friends are.”

Agie nods and replies, “She’s the new girl you tried to bully about her clothes this morning, but she put you in your place.”

Agie can practically feel her father trying not to smile - he claims to love his step-daughter just as much as he loves Agie, but she knows that they both share a similar attitude about the ridiculously inappropriateness of Connie’s clothing choices and her judgmental attitude. Connie just stares at Agie with her mouth open for a minute, apparently unable to think of anything she feels comfortable saying in front of her parents.

Jessica turns to Connie, “You tried to bully a new girl this morning? I’m so disappointed in you.”

“It’s not my fault! Her clothes were hideous! Like she did her shopping at a military surplus store or something!”

“That doesn’t excuse being rude to her,” Agie’s father interjects. Jessica probably would have left her scolding at the ‘I’m disappointed in you’, but Agie’s father knew how to deal with Connie better. “You don’t know the girls’ situation - maybe she chose that clothing because she liked the way it looked, or maybe she wears it because her family can’t afford to buy nicer clothing, like we do for you and your step-sister.”

Agie grinned up at her dad. It always pissed her off when Jessica “forgot” that they were step-sisters and insisted on calling them sisters, but her father knew how much she appreciated the separation, and always remembered to make the distinction.

Agie saw another opportunity to make Connie look bad, and seized it, “Actually, her whole family is dead, and she lives with her older brother. She lived with a foster family for years, until he got legal guardianship over her.”

Jessica placed a hand over her heart and made a face as if she were looking at a pathetically adorable rabbit. She turned to Connie, “See? Now don’t you feel bad that you made fun of the girl?”

Connie shrugged and mumbled something, which Jessica took to mean that she was apologetic and sympathetic. 

Agie’s father grinned and said, “I’m so sorry, but it was a really long haul to get home and I’m exhausted. Big family dinner tomorrow night?”

Agie frowned and said, “Dad, remember, I have work tomorrow night.”

Agie’s father clapped his hands together and said, “That’s right! Well then I’ll make chocolate chip pancakes Saturday morning!”

“Perfect” Agie said with a grin on her face.

**

Agie spent the next two hours doing homework, and resolved to try to get homework done the next time she spent hours with Derek and Cora, instead of just watching TV the whole time. Around eleven, Agie noticed Derek’s heartbeat enter the backyard, and she quietly lifted the window pane in invitation to him. He entered her bedroom a few seconds later and looked around, “Do you mind if I use your computer?” he asked quietly.

“No problem, I was just heading to bed anyway.”

“I’ll stay quiet then,” Derek replied.

As Agie lay in bed, she thought about how she could tell Derek’s heartbeat and scent, about how she was able to immediately identify the sound as his. She’d have to ask Cora about that at school tomorrow. She was relieved that it was going to be Friday, even though that meant she’d have to work all weekend. 

Agie counted the heartbeats of each of the people in her house, and then counted each of her neighbor’s heartbeats as well. She eventually fell asleep to the quiet sound of Derek breathing and the occasional tapping on the keyboard.


	6. Chapter 6

Derek was gone before Agie woke up again, and she went about her morning routine like normal. Instead of running out of the kitchen as quickly as she could, she sat down with her dad and had a bowl of cereal as he read the newspaper. Neither of them spoke much because neither of them were particularly morning people, but Agie just enjoyed sharing his presence. 

Luckily, Jessica had a morning of shopping planned, so she was able to drive Connie to school.

As Agie was about to kiss her dad bye, she received a text from Cora, “Picked up the coffee today since you forgot yesterday when u drove the demon barbie 2 school”

Agie grinned and said bye to her dad. She knew that he was probably going to go back to sleep for at least another hour or two, and that he only woke up this early in the morning to share some time with her before she had to leave for school. 

“Great. Will u at least let me give u $ for it?” Agie texted back as she got into her car.

“Nope” was the only response she got back from Cora.

Agie drove the whole way to school silently, thinking about how much she was dreading going to work tonight. As she parked the car, she grinned when she noticed Cora leaning against Derek’s car. Agie walked over and said good morning as she accepted the iced coffee from Derek, and laughed as he sipped his own. Somehow, the whipped cream on top of the iced coffee made perfect sense when Cora or Agie drank it, but seeing Derek drinking from a green straw surrounded by whipped cream just made a perfect image, so she pulled her phone out, “Sorry but I can’t resist,” she said as she snapped a picture of Derek, with one eyebrow raised in confusion. She texted it to Stiles quickly before sticking her phone back in her purse. 

“That went straight to Stiles, didn’t it?” Cora asks.

“Yuppers, it did,” Agie replies. 

Derek looks like he’s about to reply, when he instead looks past Agie and asks, “Who’s that?”

Agie turns around and sees Jason walking towards them and smiles as she says, “Oh, guys, this is my boyfriend, Jason. Jason, this is my friend Cora and her brother Derek.”

Jason looks suspiciously at Derek and wraps an arm around Agie’s shoulders, “Hey Cora - I think you’re in my Spanish class, right?”

Cora nods and replies, “Yea. I was taking AP Spanish at my old school, but since they don’t offer it here, they stuck me in the senior level class instead.”

Derek looks over at Cora, “You didn’t mention you were taking classes with seniors.”

Cora shrugs and asks, “Does it really matter?”

“I guess not,” Derek replies as he shrugs.

“Agie, we’d probably better head in so we’re not late.”

Agie nods and says, “See you around Derek.”

Derek waves and then shifts his car into reverse and begins pulling out of the parking lot. 

Jason turns to Agie, “Why are you hanging out with an older guy like that?”

“Because he’s Cora’s brother, and he drives her to school,” Agie replies as she gestures at Cora walking beside them.

“Well, yea, but, he looks so much older.”

Cora laughs, “Are you just jealous that your girlfriend was speaking to an older guy?”

Agie tries not to smirk as Jason gets all flustered, “No. That’s not it. At all. I just mean, I worry about her, is all, and I want to, you know, watch out for her.”

Cora nods and replies, “Well, you don’t have to worry about Derek, at all. Agie isn’t his type.”

“What, do you mean he’s a gay?” Jason asks and Agie winces. Who even says ‘a gay’ anymore?

“Something like that,” Cora replies, and she veers off to head into her own homeroom class. Agie waves as she leaves and turns back to give her attention to Jason again.

“So babe, are you free to hang out tonight?” Jason asks as they walk down the hall.

“I have work tonight until 11,” Agie replies, “But if you want to hang for a little bit, after, that would be cool.”

Jason grins widely and says, “Yea, sure. You want to come over to my place?”

“Yea, so long as you’re going to pay more attention to me than to your video games.”

“Tonight, all of my attention will be for you, I promise.” Agie grins as they walk down the hall, and when they reach her homeroom, Jason leans in for a kiss. He slowly pushes her up against the wall as he deepens the kiss, and just as she’s starting to really enjoy herself, he puts his arms up on either side of the wall, boxing her in, and some part of her suddenly feels uneasy at being closed in. That same feeling from the apartment last night begins to rise, the urge to run and escape and be free. 

Agie is about to push Jason off so that she can catch her breath and prevent herself from losing control, when her teacher steps out into the hallway and says sternly, “You two. Stop. Agie, get inside. Jason, you go to your homeroom class. Now.”

Jason grins down at Agie, completely ignorant of her internal struggle, and Agie looks down at her feet as she walks past her teacher. She hopes that she looks embarrassed at being caught, but she’s hoping that no one notices how close she was to losing control. 

As Agie sits down, she hears Cora’s voice, far off, whisper quietly, “Agie, you okay?”

Agie isn't’ quite sure how Cora’s voice comes to her clearly over all of the other noise in the school, but she whispers back, “Yea. I’ll explain later. Jason … we were kissing and I kind of wanted to run away. I’ll just have to explain later.”

Agie hears Cora’s soft chuckle as the homeroom teacher begins to take attendance, so she turns her attention to the class. 

**

In gym class, Agie and Cheryl opt to walk around the track instead of playing volleyball. Usually, Agie likes playing, but she feels bad for blowing Cheryl off yesterday, and she’s not sure if she’ll be able to hang out with her friend at any point this weekend since she has to work every day, and Derek said that he wanted to squeeze in training time whenever she was free. Plus, Agie wanted to spend time with her dad before he had to go out on another delivery. Sometimes, he was able to spend as much as a week home before he had to go on another run, but other times he would spend less than 36 hours. And he often didn’t get too much notice on when he had to leave, so Agie usually tried to fit her schedule around his. 

So long as the two girls kept walking the whole period, the gym teacher would leave them alone, so as soon as they got the signal to start, they began walking around the track. 

“So how was your day with Jessica?” Cheryl asked.

“Ugh, you know her. She’s just the worst. But my dad came home, at least, so I got to spend a little bit of time with him.”

“Awesome. Do you know how long he’s going to be in town?”

“No. I’m hoping it’ll be for a while, since I have to work every day this weekend, and I want to get a chance to hang out with him.”

Cheryl nods in understanding. They had been friends for long enough that Cheryl knew Agie’s family, and their situation, very well. “Your life needs to be less busy so we can hang out soon.”

Agie nods and says, “God, you have no idea.”

The two girls continue to walk and chat about random things. When the period is over and they begin walking back towards the school, Cheryl asks, “So, Cora? How’d you guys become friends?”

“She used to live up by Redding, by my cousin Stiles. They were friends, so when she moved down here, he called and told me she was coming. We hung out and just hit it off.”

Cheryl nods, “That’s cool. Why’d she move down here? Besides the fact that it’s so much better than Redding?”

“Honestly, I’m not completely sure. She doesn’t seem to want to talk about it, but I get the picture the things weren’t so good for her or her brother up there.”

“She lives with her brother?”

“Yea,” Agie replied as they picked up their backpacks from the locker room and began walking towards their next class, “I think their whole family died, or something, and they’re the only two left.”

“Fuck. That’s awful.”

“I know, right?”

Jason suddenly swoops in and puts his arm around Agie’s shoulders, “What’s awful?” 

“Agie was just telling me how her friend Cora’s whole family died or something.”

“Cora? That girl from this morning? The one with the brother in the stupid car?” Jason asks frowning.

Agie nods and replies, “He drives a Camaro. How is that stupid?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa” Cheryl says, “She has an older brother that drives a Camaro? Is he single?”

Agie laughs and shakes her head, “I’m not sure, but I think he might be gay anyway.”

“Wait, really?” Jason asks in surprise.

“Jay, what did you think Cora meant this morning when she said that ‘I wasn’t his type’?”

Jason shrugs and says, “I don’t know, that he didn’t like high school girls or something. I was joking about the whole ‘gay’ thing.”

“I think it was more a ‘he doesn’t like girls’ sort of thing.”

“Oh… well… oh.” Jason replies, looking thoughtful.

Cheryl looks disappointed, “Oh well.”

“Cheryl, you’ve never even met the guy, how are you disappointed about this?”

“I don’t know. College guys with hot cars… plus, Cora is pretty, so her brother must be kind of hot, right?”

“I don’t know if he’s in college, actually.”

“Babe, you’re supposed to say that you don’t think he’s hot.” Jason says with a pout on his face.

Agie laughs and pushes him away, “You are such a jealous baby. I just told you that I’m pretty sure the guy is gay, plus, why would I want to look at another guy when I’m dating you?” As she finishes her question, she grabs at the front of his shirt and pulls him into a kiss, although she makes sure to keep it more PG than they had this morning. She’s starting to get a little worried about going over to Jason’s house tonight if making out in the hallway almost made her lose control. 

“You guys are so cute, it makes me want to barf sometimes,” Cheryl says as she starts to walk away. “Plus, I don’t want to be late for class, so you’d better come too.”

Agie nods and smiles up at Jason, “I’ve got to run right after school, but I’ll text you when I get out of work and I’m on my way over, okay?”

Jason grins and unwraps his arms from around Agie’s waist, “See you later babe.”

**

As Agie is leaving school, she stops by Derek’s car as he’s waiting for Cora. “You know, it’s only been two days, and it already feels weird not to be spending the afternoon with you guys.”

Derek smiles up at her, “It’s part of being a pack. We get strength from being together, so the wolf wants to spend time with the other pack members. Plus, since you’re so new at this, and we’re new as a pack together, the urge to spend more time together bonding is going to be strong.”

“Oh. That actually makes sense.”

“Plus,” Cora says as she walks up, “We’re just awesome.”

Agie smiles and says, “So… Cora, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Cora shakes her head and grins, “Actually, it’s my turn to babysit you tonight, and I hear you have an awesome bean-bag chair.”

Agie laughs, “Hell yes I do. I’m going to Jason’s tonight, after work, just to hang out for a bit. I’ll text you when I’m leaving?”

Cora nods, but Derek looks up with a serious look on his face, “Agie, I’m not going to tell you what to do, but… be careful. It’s easier to lose control when you’re…” he made a face “being intimate.”

“I kind of noticed… I had trouble keeping control today when we were making out. I… I’m going to pay attention. Maybe now that I’ve noticed what it feels like to start to lose control, I’ll be able to prevent it?”

Cora shrugged and Derek said, “Maybe.”

“But, I mean, it’s possible, right? It’s not like you can’t have sex.”

Cora laughed and Derek replied, “I have more control than you do though.”

“Fine. But I’m not going to give up my whole sex life just… in case.”

“I’m not telling you to. I’m just telling you to be careful. Okay?”

Agie nods, “I promise.”


	7. Chapter 7

Work goes by quickly enough. Agie reminds every manager that she comes across that she’s still in high school, so they can’t schedule her to work every weekend shift. They all swear that they didn’t mean to do it on purpose, but they just had no one else to work this weekend. To appease her, the managers make sure that she only has one or two shifts each weekend for the next two months.

When Agie gets out of work, she calls Cora as she’s walking towards her car. Cora answers on the second ring and says, “Hey girl, what’s up?”

“Nothing, really. I’m just leaving work so I figured I would call to say hi.”

“Mmm that’s nice,” Cora replies and yawns.

“Why are you so sleepy?” Agie asks as she gets into her car and starts it.

“It’s because I’m sleeping in your bed. It’s super comfortable.”

“You’re in my bed?” Agie asks with confusion.

Cora laughs and replies, “Yea. I decided to give Derek some alone time, so I came over early, but your bed looked so comfortable, and it is! So I’ll just be sleeping here whenever you get home.”

Agie laughs and jokingly says, “Well I can’t wait to come home to see you in my bed.”

“Go see your boy-toy and have fun. And let me get back to sleep.”

“No problem. Good night.”

Agie is grinning as she hangs up, and after a few more minutes she pulls up by Jason’s house. She texts him so that he can come let her in so she doesn’t have to knock or ring the bell or anything. 

The moment Jason opens the door he grins down at Agie and wraps his around her waist. He lifts her up over his shoulder and carries her down to his bedroom in the basement. Agie laughs and pounds gently on his back, and hoarsely whispers “Put me down, you brute!”

Jason laughs as he stops just before his bed and tosses Agie down onto it. Agie reaches up and grabs the front of Jason’s shirt and pulls him down towards her. He kneels down over her, and just as Agie is about to lean up to kiss him, she catches a whiff of Cheryl’s perfume. She looks to the side for a second and Jason asks, “Babe, what’s wrong?”

“No, sorry, nothing, I just thought I smelled Cheryl’s perfume for a second.”

Jason makes a face, but almost instantly buries his face in Agie’s neck and starts kissing her, “Don’t be ridiculous, how could you smell that?”

“I don’t know… it’s just really distinctive, you know?”

Jason continues to kiss up Agie’s neck and reaches her ear, “Not really. I’ve never really noticed it before. But maybe if it’s so strong it’s sticking to your clothing or something from school.”

“Yea… I guess,” Agie replies. 

Jason says, “Why are we still talking about Cheryl? I want to focus on you” as he bites down on her neck.

Agie’s vision flashes red, and without thinking about it, she flips Jason over until she’s on top of him, holding his hands down above his head.

Jason laughs and exclaims, “Whoa, babe, I like this. Take control. That’s awesome.”

Agie sits up abruptly and takes a deep breath. She counts to five before Jason interrupts her, “Babe, what’s up? You’re acting weird tonight.”

Agie shakes her head, but when she opens her eyes, the red has faded away so she smiles and says, “It’s nothing, sorry. Work was just really tough tonight.”

He runs his hands up and down her arms, “Do you want to lay back and let me do the work?”

Agie nods and lies back down on the bed. Jason shifts so he’s above her again, and his hands roam around her body. He kisses at her neck again while his hands lower down to her shirt hem and begin tugging it upwards. Agie shifts so she can get her shirt off, and then lies back down again. Jason continues to kiss his way down her body, and he deftly reaches beneath her and unhooks her bra. He throws it aside with one hand, while he grabs one breast with the other and latches his mouth onto the other nipple. Agie moans as he sucks on her nipple, and as his hands reach down to the button of her jeans, he moves aside to pay equal attention to her other nipple. Jason unbuttons her jeans, and Agie wriggles to help him as he slides her jeans and panties to the floor. 

Agie feels a moment of hesitancy as Jason lowers his head between her thighs—she doesn’t want to lose control at all, but she’s not sure that she’ll be able to keep control through all of this. Her doubts fly out of her mind, however, the moment that Jason’s tongue reaches her lips. The night that Jason had been ignoring her, she might have had many negative thoughts about him, but she would never, ever say anything bad about his skills at oral sex. 

Agie groans and fists her hands in the blankets above her head as Jason’s tongue mercilessly teases her. Almost as soon as Jason slips a finger inside her, Agie sees red again as she feels herself tighten around Jason’s finger. After just a few seconds, Agie feels another finger enter alongside the second, and when they both curve upwards, Agie gasps and nearly sits upright as the force of her orgasm rockets through her.

“Whoa, babe. That was quick!”

Agie pants and gasps out, “It snuck up on me,” as she reaches frantically for Jason’s belt. Her vision is still tinged red, but instead of wanting to run or escape, like she’s felt before when felt this close to losing control. This time, though, she knows what she wants. And she knows how to get it. 

Jason laughs as Agie harshly pushes his pants down with his boxers. She pulls him over towards her and takes his erect penis into her mouth in one quick swallow. Jason groans loudly, but Agie can hear as he hurriedly rips open a condom wrapper. She grabs it from his hand and quickly rolls it onto his penis. Before he can say anything, Agie pulls him back onto the bed and climbs on top of him again. After ensuring that she’s lined up properly, Agie swiftly sits back and both she and Jason moan loudly as he fully enters her. 

Usually, Agie is perfectly happy to let Jason take control of sex, but somehow, tonight, that isn’t an option. Agie keeps looking down at her hands to make sure that she doesn’t have any claws growing, but just to be on the safe side, she buries her face in the crook between Jason’s neck and his shoulder as she rides him. Jason runs his hands all along her body urging her on

Jason shifts to try to move Agie onto her back, but she just grabs his hands and pins them to the bed above his head. "Stay like this, please," Agie feels herself almost growl. Jason's eyes widen, but he grins as she continues to grind into him. After another couple minutes, his speed becomes erratic and he practically shouts as he comes. 

They both collapse onto the bed, and after only a few seconds Jason shifts again to get rid of the condom. Agie glances over at the clock and sees that it’s almost midnight. If she hurries home, she can still get eight or nine hours of sleep before her dad wakes her up for pancakes. Jason gets up and walks towards his bathroom, so Agie rolls out of bed and begins to put on her clothing.

"Babe that was stunning. How did you get all of that energy after working?" Jason asks as he comes back into the bedroom, but then he stops as he sees her getting dressed. “What? You’re leaving already?”

Agie nods and says, “My dad is making pancakes for breakfast, so I have to be up early. And work was really tough.”

Jason nods, and walks over to her. He embraces her and as he pulls back he says, “Hey, I figured you’d have some hickies, but there are none.”

Agie tries to look down at her own neck, even though she knows the gesture is futile. She shrugs and leans in to kiss Jason, “I’ll text you tomorrow if I have time to hang out after work, okay?”

He grins and slaps her butt as she turns around, “Hey, will you lock the door on your way out?”

Agie nods and makes sure that she has everything before she walks upstairs. Normally, Jason walks her to the door and kisses her one last time before she leaves, but she figures that he must be pretty tired tonight too.  
**

Agie quietly lets herself into her house and tip toes upstairs. She opens her bedroom door and softly puts her things down and grabs a towel from the back of her door. She glances over at Cora as she carefully shuts the door and heads to the bathroom. Agie always likes to shower after having sex, and after a few disappointing times of trying it in Jason’s miniature shower, she just prefers to come home to shower in her own nice, big shower. After she towels off and slips into her pajamas, she pads back down the hallway to her bedroom. 

Cora lifts up the covers as Agie nears the bed, and both girls grin at each other as Agie lies down next to Cora. 

“Thanks for showering,” Cora says softly, “I wasn’t really in the mood to smell your boyfriend’s spunk all night.”

Agie slaps a hand over her mouth to muffle her cough, “I always shower afterwards, but I didn’t even think about what it would smell like! Ew! Plus, we use condoms anyway, so you wouldn’t have been smelling that anyway.”

Cora smiles and nods gently, “So everything was good? No maulings or anything?”

“Nope,” Agie said, “But… the sex was wilder than normal.”

“I hear that’s pretty normal.”

“What… have you… not?”

Cora grins, “I’ve had sex, yea, but I’ve always been a werewolf, so I don’t have anything else to compare it to. I’ve heard that it can get a lot wilder from people who were bit.”

“Oh. Right. That makes sense.”

“Yea. Anyway – Derek is right, by the way. It’s easier to lose control when you’re having sex, so you just have to be careful.”

“I know, I felt myself getting close, but I actually think that having the sex helped me to control it. Like, normally I want to run when I’m losing control, but this time I just wanted… to be in control of everything.”

Cora chuckles and says, “Perfect. That’s you controlling your urges. You can suppress them completely, which is what Derek does most of the time, or you can redirect them. You’ll figure out which one you like the most eventually.”

Agie nods and asks, “So, are you going to be gone before I wake up, like Derek usually is?”

Cora nods and says, “Yea, Derek doesn’t want me getting ‘too involved in your regular life’ – he wants you to still have the opportunity to be normal and stuff like that.”

“Makes sense, I guess.” Agie replies.

Cora nods and yawns, and then says, “I’m going to roll over and go back to sleep now.”


	8. Chapter 8

Agie wakes up as she hears footsteps approaching her bedroom door. She opens her eyes and sees Cora still lying in bed beside her as her father knocks on her door. After two seconds, he opens the door slightly and peeks in. He pauses as he sees two brown-haired girls staring back at him instead of one, and raises his eyebrow at Agie.

“Dad, hey, good morning. This is Cora.”

“Good morning,” Cora says as she waves feebly.

“Good morning girls,” Agie’s dad replies.

“Cora slept over last night, I just forgot to tell you, sorry.” Agie rushes.

“That’s okay, but just try to remember to tell me when people are sleeping over, preferably before I run into them, please. Cora, do you like chocolate chip pancakes?”

Cora nods and smiles faintly.

“Good, the first batch will be ready in four minutes,” Agie’s father says as he closes the door and walks back downstairs.

Cora turns around to face Agie fully, “Shit I never woke up. Damn your comfortable bed!”

Agie laughs and rolls out of bed, “Come on, my dad’s pancakes are to die for. Derek will just have to deal with you meeting my dad.”

“You sure you don’t mind sharing your time with him?”

Agie smiles and shakes her head. She’s only known Cora for a few days, and she already gets Agie more than most of her friends do. “Not at all. Plus, we’re pack now, right? Pack gets to share pancakes.”

Cora grinned suddenly and threw her arms around Agie’s neck.

“So what’s the proper attire for pancakes?” Cora looks down at her shirt, which looks suspiciously like one of Agie’s and her boxer shorts, which Agie really hopes she didn’t steal from her brother.

“That’s fine.” Agie replies as she puts on her slippers and heads downstairs.

Just as they enter the kitchen, Agie’s father places two plates full of pancakes on the island facing the stove. The two girls happily sit down as Agie’s father says, “So, Cora, Agie told me that you’re from Beacon Hills. Did she ever mention to you that that’s where I grew up too?”

Cora looks at Agie in surprise and replies, “No, I guess she forgot to mention that.”

Agie shrugs as her dad continues, “I went to college here in LA with Agie’s mother, and we both got jobs here and just ended up staying here. What were your parents’ names? Maybe I went to school with them.”

Cora glances at Agie as if questioning the fact that her father used the past tense when asking about her parents, and Agie shrugs again as Cora replies, “My mom’s name was Talia Romanoff and my dad was Tony Hale.”

Agie’s father’s eyes widen as he asks, “Hale?”

Cora nods.

“You’re Cora Hale?”

Cora nods again.

“And your brother… the one you’re living here in LA with, that’s Derek Hale?”

Cora nods a third time and Agie glances between the two of them, “Dad? Did you know Cora’s family?”

“Yes, and you did too. Or, you met them a few times when you were little. Your mother was friends with Talia. And Tony and I were on the football team together. We used to visit with them in the summers when we were up there.”

Agie looks between her father and Cora in surprise. “Really? But why don’t I…” she paused as sudden realization hit her. “The fire.” 

Cora and Agie’s father both nod solemnly, and Agie turns back to Cora suddenly, “The fire, that Uncle John never really believed was an accident.”

“Almost like the police didn’t know all of the factors,” Cora replies softly.

“Shit.”

“Language, darling. But, yes.” Agie’s father replies, as he flips the pancakes that had sat on the pan forgotten for a minute longer than they should have been. He sighs as he throws them into the garbage and starts a new set, “We went to the memorial, but nobody would tell us what had happened to you kids. John wouldn’t even tell us who was still alive – said it was to protect you.”

“They didn’t actually know I was alive then,” Cora says, “I had escaped from the fire, but… I couldn’t remember anything. I don’t know if I hit my head or if my mind just couldn’t accept what I had seen… but it was a few months before I really remembered everything. And by that point, I didn’t know that Derek and Laura were alive, let alone that they had left Beacon Hills.”

Agie’s father flipped the pancakes as he slowly asked, “And you and Derek are living together now… so where is Laura?”

“She died. Last year.”

Agie’s father just closes his eyes for a few seconds before replying, “You kids deserve a break.”

Cora nods in agreement.

“Well, we’ll have to have you and Derek over for dinner sometime. It’s been years since I’ve seen him, but your parents were our friends, so while you’re living here in LA, you’re our family.”

“Family,” Cora said, looking at Agie and grinning.

Agie reached over and grabbed Cora’s hand, “Yes. Family.”

**

The rest of breakfast passed with Agie’s father telling stories about Cora’s parents and how the kids used to all hang out and play together when Agie would come up to Beacon Hills to visit.

After Cora left, Agie and her dad sat down to watch episodes of Law & Order together until she had to get ready for work. Agie’s father kissed her on the cheek as she was on her way out of the house and asked, “Can you invite Cora and Derek over for our family dinner on Monday night?”

Agie grinned and nodded. 

During one of her breaks at work, she checked her phone and saw a text message from Derek. It was a single word, “Family?”

“Yea. Apparently our parents were friends from school. You and Cora r invited to dinner on Monday”.

“Family.”

Agie grinned and assumed the alteration in punctuation meant Derek accepted the invitation and that he liked the idea of her father accepting them as family as well. 

**

Agie got home from work and headed straight to her room. Her dad was already asleep and she had no interest in watching whatever bullshit reality show Connie had on.

She practically laughed out loud as she opened the door to her bedroom as saw that Cora was already sleeping in her bed. Agie pulled out her phone and texted her dad, “Coras sleeping over again. Giving u a heads up”. 

“Thanks peanut. Good night.” Her dad replied.

Agie brushed her teeth and showered, and after putting on her pjs crawled into bed with Cora. 

“So, your dad really thinks we’re family?”

Agie reached over and placed her hand on Cora’s shoulder, “Yes. I think he does. And I definitely do too. You guys dropped everything to make sure that I do okay with this, just because Stiles asked you to. We… we have so little family left that we value what we have. And I know it’s like that for you and Derek too.”

Cora grinned sleepily and nodded. When Agie rolled over a few minutes later, Cora slowly wrapped her arm around Agie’s waist. Agie grinned and placed her arm over Cora’s as she slowly drifted off to sleep.

**

Work on Sunday didn’t go as smoothly as it had the past two days. Three of the waiters yelled at her, and it seemed that every single customer that walked into the restaurant was in a pissy mood. What Agie didn’t understand was who showed up at a restaurant at dinnertime and then was angry that they had to wait for a table. Plus, yelling at her didn’t help them to get seated any faster. 

The only good point of her day was that the restaurant closed at nine on Sundays, instead of eleven, so she got to leave a little bit earlier than she had the previous night. 

By the time she got into her car, after waving goodbye to her coworkers, she took a deep breath to relax. She hadn't lost control at any point- her job could be stressful on a regular basis, and she worked hard to keep a smile on her face, so she was used to schooling her emotions. She pulled out of the parking lot and was turning on the radio as she began to slow down at the red light on the corner. Agie looked down at her foot and felt a seed of panic growing as her car didn’t slow down in the slightest when she slammed her foot down harder on the brake pedal. She started pumping the brake pedal as she looked up into the intersection. Luckily, no one seemed to be coming, so she continued to coast through the intersection. Luckily, she was only going about twenty mph, but she still didn't want to hit anything. 

Agie grabbed her phone and called the last number she had called, which was apparently Derek. He picked up on the second ring, “Hey Agie.”

“Derek, Derek, I think someone cut my brakes!”

“Fuck, Agie, are you okay? We’re coming. Where are you now?”

Agie’s car was slowing down to a crawl and she looked around, “I just left the Applebee’s where I work, I’m actually only a mile or two from where your apartment is, on Hempstead Turnpike, and holy fucking shit what was that?” Agie exclaimed as a large shape ran in front of her headlights. 

Agie’s car was practically stopped now, so she steered towards a tree and slowly bumped into it. She threw the car in park and jumped out. Whatever was out there, she didn’t want to be trapped inside her car if it came back.

A tiny voice penetrated to her ears, over her panic and the sound of her own beating heart, Agie had forgotten about Derek for a minute, so she put the phone back up to her ear and heard him practically shouting, “Agie? Agie are you still there? What did you see? What’s there?”

“I’m not sure. It was big and hairy and holy crap maybe it was the Alpha.”

“We’re almost there, just, try to stay calm, okay?”

Agie nodded as if he could see it and looked all around. The area where her car had come to rest was full of stores that sold furniture and flooring and things like that, and they were all closed at this hour on a Sunday night.

Agie heard footsteps coming towards her quickly and she turned just in time to scream and duck as the hairy creature jumped towards her. It sailed over her head and she scurried to the other side of her car, “Derek, Derek I’m confirming that this thing definitely looks like the Alpha. And I don't think that he’s happy to see me.”

“Why would I be happy to see an abomination?” A voice growls out from the darkness on the other side of her car, “You were a mistake that will be fixed.”

Agie hears Derek cursing through her phone and she stands up in defiance. She can feel the anger coursing through her veins, and her vision becomes red-tinged as she focuses on her claws growing out.

“First you bite me without asking for my consent, and now you want to kill me? Well fuck you!” Agie hurled at the man-beast as he stood and they glared at each other from opposite sides of the car.

“You’ve gained control of the shift?” He growled out at her and she nodded in response. “Well that doesn’t change the fact that you should be dead!”

Just as he crouched to prepare for jumping over the car, Derek slammed into him from the side. Cora rushed to Agie’s side and asked, “Ags, you’re okay?”

Agie nodded and rushed to where Derek and the Alpha were growling and swiping at each other with their claws as they rolled around on the sidewalk. The Alpha flipped Derek over and pinned him to the ground with his claws around Derek’s neck. Agie and Cora simultaneously reached down and grabbed the Alpha's shoulders and heaved him off Derek, who immediately sprang to his feet.

The Alpha regained his feet and turned to face the three of them. “What’s this? You’ve found a pack? Already?”

Agie nodded and replied, “Biting me may not have been your intention, but I have an entire pack that is glad to have me.”

The Alpha backed up slowly and Agie noticed the blood running down from the many cuts and scratches on his arms and chest. Derek may not be an Alpha anymore, but he still knows how to hurt one. “You had better hope that your pack doesn’t mind protecting you then.”

Derek growled and responded, “That’s what pack does.”

The Alpha growled back and then turned and ran between two buildings and disappeared. 

Agie turned to Derek, “Thank you so much,” she gushed, “but oh my god you’re bleeding! A lot!”

Derek glanced down and shrugged. “We need to call a tow-truck for your car. And do you want to call the police to report that your brakes were cut?”

Agie hesitates, “I don’t know. Let me call my dad.”

Derek nods and starts shifting his shoulders as if testing them out.

Agie’s dad responds, “Hey munchkin, how was work today?”

“Good dad, but… I think something’s wrong with my brakes. They didn’t work and I sort of just… slowed down and coasted and now I’m parked in front of the Bob’s Furniture on Hempstead Turnpike.”

“Oh my god, Agie, are you okay?”

“Yea, dad, luckily there weren’t too many cars around, so I just kind of coasted around everything. But I’m fine. I just don’t want to drive my car right now. I’m going to call AAA, but, would you come pick me up?”

“Of course, sweetie. I’m on my way right now, just stay in the car, okay?”

“All right dad. I’ll see you in a couple minutes.”

Agie hangs up and turns back to see Cora checking out Derek’s wounds. She dials AAA and talks to the woman who answers the line and explains her location and that she needs a tow truck. The woman promises that a truck will be there sometime between 15 and 75 minutes. Agie laughs to herself at how ridiculous of a timeframe that is, but then turns back as she hears Derek speaking.

“They’re really not that bad,” Derek was saying to Cora.

She reaches up and brushes away some of the blood on his cheek, revealing that the gash there was almost completely healed. Cora turns back to Agie, “I’m going to stay with you until your dad comes, just in case the Alpha returns, but you Derek,” she says as she turns back to her brother, “you have to get back to the apartment. We can’t explain this to Agie’s dad now.”

“Fine,” Derek replies, “but you need to be out of here before he gets here too. How are you going to explain that you were with Agie when she got out of work? Or would you say you ran here from our apartment over a mile away?”

Cora nods and replies, “Fine. But I’m staying close until I’m sure she’s safe.”

“But what about you?” Agie asks.

“That Alpha is apparently after you, not me. Plus, I have a little more experience defending myself.”

Agie nods and says, “Derek, are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes. You know, I haven’t had a single shirt destroyed since we left Beacon Hills, and since we’ve met you, I’ve lost two.”

“I’ll buy you some new ones for your birthday.”

Derek grins and says, “Let us know when you get home, okay?”

Agie nods and watches as Derek walks away and then fades into the darkness. Cora turns back to Agie and says, “Do you really think the Alpha cut your brakes?”

“It seems like too much of a coincidence that my brakes just went, and that he was waiting for me when my car stopped.”

Cora nods and crosses her arms over her chest, “Well, at least we’ve met him now. And as much as it sucks, at least we know. We know that he regrets biting you, and that he wants to, what did he say, ‘fix it’?”

Agie nods, “That definitely means kill me, right?”

Cora grimaced. “Yea.”

“So how is that good?”

“It’s good because we’ve met him. And gotten his scent. Now, Derek and I will be able to track him a lot easier. And the fact that he regrets biting you, it means that he’s not a total and complete psychopath. Which is good. Because that means that there is a rational side to him. So we might be able to reason with him eventually. Hey, text Stiles. See if he can get the pack together so we can all talk tonight.”

Agie nods and texts Stiles, “Ran into the big bad. Derek n cora want to talk with everyone in like 20 min. Can you set it up?”

Cora tilts her head to the side, "I hear a car coming. Is that your dad?”


	9. Chapter 9

Agie sat down in front of her laptop and waited for Stiles to call. She wanted to use her laptop because she had been pretty much pacing ever since her dad brought her back home. This way, at least, she wouldn’t have to hold her phone the whole time. Stiles finally called, and he set up the whole group chat so they could all see each other. 

Stiles’ face popped up, and then in a second screen above Stiles’ face a picture of Scott and Isaac appeared. Next to their screen was Derek and Cora, and below them was an image of Agie’s room. 

Agie was impressed at how apparently easy it was to get all of the werewolves in Scott’s pack on a single screen. Scott and Isaac waved and Stiles leaned forward and said, “Okay, I hereby call this meeting to order. Now, seriously, what happened, are you guys okay?”

Agie, Cora and Derek nodded in their separate screens. “We are,” Derek replied, “But we spoke with the Alpha. He said that biting Agie was a mistake.”

“Well, that’s good, right?” Scott asked.

“A mistake that he planned on fixing. Permanently.” Agie replied.

“Oh. Shit.” Scott replied. 

“Yea, that’s pretty much what I thought too,” Agie said.

Stiles rubbed his hands along his hair and Agie couldn’t help but smile at how messy it looked afterwards. Stiles had worn his hair in a buzz cut for the past few years, but she liked it now that it was longer. It made him look older. “So he tried to kill you?”

“That was probably his intention,” Derek replied, “But luckily Agie called us and we were able to get there before the Alpha did anything other than cut her breaks.”

“He cut your breaks?” Scott asked in shock.

Agie nodded and Isaac leaned forward and spoke for the first time, “Are you sure it was him? I mean… why would he do that if he just planned on killing you anyway?”

“Maybe he was hoping he could get it done without actually involving himself any more than he already had,” Cora suggested. 

“So what did he look like?” Stiles asked while writing fervently on a pad of paper hidden off-screen.

“He was shifted half between the Beta and full Alpha forms,” Derek replied. “He looked a little like Peter did in his Alpha form… just slightly more human. It was eerie. I’ve never seen or heard of an Alpha appearing like that when they weren’t completely mentally unbalanced. But this one spoke and sounded… rational.”

Scott sat back and rubbed at his jaw. “You’re right. That doesn’t make sense that he would seem sane but insane at the same time.”

Agie thought she saw a muscle in Derek’s jaw twitch, but he just nodded and didn’t reply. 

Stiles leaned forward, “Derek. How strong was he? And how fast?”

Derek paused before responding, “Not as strong or fast as any of the Alpha pack, but more in control than Peter had been. If I had still been an Alpha I could have definitely taken him. And Scott, you could definitely do it too.”

Stiles nods and jots down a few more things. 

“All right. I’m getting an idea here, but I want to do more research. Derek, is there any way you can try to follow his scent and figure out who he is? The fact that he only spoke to you in the half-Alpha form makes me thing that he doesn’t want you to know who he really is, that he’s trying to hide his identity. And that makes me want to know it even more.”

Derek nods.

“But please, try not to fight him if you don’t have to. I know you’re still a big, bad wolf, but I’d prefer you to come home in one piece.”

Agie tilted her head to the side, the way Stiles said ‘come home’ didn’t sound so much like a theoretical, or even the way you might refer to a friend ‘coming home.’ Agie thought she heard an implied ‘come home to me’ in there, but she just filed that away as one more thing to ask Stiles when she got the chance. There definitely seemed to be something more to the relationship between Stiles and Derek than either of them were letting on, but at the same time, she wasn’t sure if she was reading too much into something that didn’t actually exist.

Derek sighed and cocked one eyebrow up, “Stiles. I always try to be safe.”

“Well, try harder than normal, okay? I’m not down there to save your ass!” Stiles nearly snapped, and then blinked and looked around the screen, as if her were assessing everyone’s reactions. Nobody said anything at his outburst, so Agie just shrugged it off.

Scott leaned forward, “Derek, seriously. We know that you can handle most things, but it’s just the three of you down there now. And even if Agie is doing as well as you say she is,” Agie pulled back for a second as she realized that Derek and Scott were talking about her progress, “she's still mostly untrained. So that really only leaves you and Cora to handle the situation, and we’re way too far away to be able to be a legitimate help if you guys get in trouble. Of course we’ll come if you need us, but it would take at least eight hours, and I don’t want to think what could go wrong in that time period.”

Derek nodded and replied, “Fine. I’ll try harder than normal to stay safe. Is that good enough?”

Isaac is about to open him mouth to add something when Derek finally snaps himself, “No! Stop treating me like a child! I handled things just fine before we all became a pack, and I can handle things just fine now!”

Agie almost wanted to reach through the computer screen when she saw Isaac shrink back from Derek’s words. She knew that they were directed at all three of the guys in Beacon Hills, but the fact that they were directly prompted by Isaac seemed to hurt the boy. 

Agie watched as Scott glanced over at Isaac and softly bumped their shoulders together. Scott then looked at Derek and made a face, and Derek’s eyebrows pulled together. “Shit, Isaac, I’m sorry. I know you didn’t even say anything, I’m just… frustrated.”

Isaac nods and Stiles chips in, “Isaac, I’m sure that Derek would give you a nice warm fuzzy hug if he were here, but since he can’t, I’ll give you a nice big one tomorrow. Kay?”

Isaac’s eyes twinkled and he asked, “You promise?”

Stiles and Derek both nodded seriously at the computers and Agie felt even more intrigued by the relationship between the boys. Isaac seemed to be more fragile than the other two high schoolers from Beacon Hills, but they both seemed to be very protective and caring for him, in their own special ways. And Derek seemed to reluctantly participate in their actions.

Derek glanced down, and Agie assumed he had looked at the clock, because he said, “I’m going to head over to Agie’s now. So I’ll talk to you guys all later?”

Scott and Isaac both tilted their heads to the side in identical adorable expressions of confusion. “Why are you going to Agie’s place now?” Scott asked.

“So that she’s not alone just in case she loses control during the night,” Stiles replied.

“And also in case the Alpha decides to come for her. Since we’re assuming that he’s the one who cut her break lines, he has apparently tracked her enough that he can find her. Agie, it’s probably a good idea if you’re never alone anymore.”

Agie nods and replies, “You’re probably right, but as much as I’d love to have constant protection from that dude, because he was scary, it’s not fair that you guys will have to babysit me full time.”

“Well, I mean, your dad seemed to really like me, so I can just hang out with you all the time after school, and Derek can just hang out at night at your place. I’d rather do that than let you get hurt.” Cora points out.

“Yea, that might be a good idea. And Derek, my dad said he wanted to meet you. Oh! Stiles! Did you know my parents were friends with the Hales? And apparently I used to hang out with them when I was a kid and would come up to visit you for the summers.”

“Seriously?” Stiles asked, “How do I not remember that at all?”

“I don’t know. I guess we’d go over there whenever you were hanging out with Scott.”

“So I was spending time with kid-Scott, when I could have been hanging out with kid-Derek? That seems unfair.”

Derek chokes back what Agie assumes was a laugh, and Scott exclaims, “Hey!”

Stiles grins and says, “Just kidding, buddy. Mostly.”

Derek rises and waves. He bends down and kisses Cora on top of the head, “Don’t stay up too late.”

Cora grins up at him and replies, “Sure, Der, whatever.”

Derek turns back to the computer screen, “Guys. Take care. I’ll talk to you.”

Scott and Isaac both wave in return and Stiles says, “See you later, Der-Ber.”

Derek scowls at Stiles and walks off-screen. Stiles just grins and pulls his cell-phone out.

“You’re texting Derek, aren’t you?” Isaac asks.

Stiles just sticks out his tongue and continues to type.

“Well, tell him that I miss his stupid face,” Isaac continues.

Stiles glances up and grins, “Will do, buddy.”

Agie smiles, “You guys all have the weirdest relationships.”

“You have no idea,” Cora replies with a laugh.

Agie turns to Scott and Isaac, “So, guys. Can I ask you a weird question?”

Scott shrugs and Isaac nods.

“I asked Cora, but she wasn’t really all that much help. What did you say, Cora? Bitten wolves experience things differently than born wolves?”

Cora chokes suddenly and bends to the side, but Cora catches a glance of her red face before she dodged off the screen. The three boys look over at her curiously based on Cora’s response.

“So, did sex get any different after you changed in a werewolf?”

Scott suddenly turns a violent shade of red and starts laughing nervously. Stiles barks out one short laugh and his eyes track upwards, at what Agie is assuming is where Scott and Isaac are on his screen. Agie would feel weird about talking about sex in front of her cousin, except for the fact that they’ve been pretty open about just about everything together. Stiles had been a little jealous of her… experience for a while, but that had also been during the time when he had been madly in love with Lydia Martin. Agie should probably ask about her sometime.

Scott looks like he’s trying to form words, but his face is still a brilliant shade of red, so Isaac softly says, “Yea. It did change.”

Scott looks over at Isaac in shock, and his mouth just hangs open for a few seconds before he manages to get it closed. “Dude, you’d had sex before you were bit? You never told me!”

Isaac shrugged, “It was only a couple times, and the girl was kind of a bitch. But after… at first I thought that she had just sucked in general, but then I realized it was the wolf. Everything was just… more intense, I guess.”

Scott nodded, “I was a virgin before I was bit, but it’s definitely intense now, in a way that I guess isn’t normal? I mean, for humans. Sorry, dude.” Scott says, and Agie assumes he’s saying that towards Stiles.

Stiles shrugs and replies, “Water under the bridge, bro. I’m totally content with my human-status. Wild wolf-sex or not.”

Cora leans back into the picture again, “Well, that was exciting. Can we not mention to Derek that we waited until he left to begin having the wolf-sex-talk?” She paused for a second before saying, “No, on second thought, I think we should definitely tell him. Preferably with a camera on hand. I want to catch his facial expression and save it forever.”

Stiles cackles and rubs his hands together, “Oh my god, please I want to witness Derek’s reaction to that. It would be so perfect.”

“My reaction to what?” Derek asks from the window and Agie almost falls off her chair as she jumps to the side suddenly. 

“How the fuck do you jump onto a roof so quietly?” She exclaims.

Derek just shrugs as he stands up and straightens his clothing out. “My reaction to what?” he repeats.

“To the conversation about the werewolf birds and the bees,” Stiles replies as he leans forward and places his chin in his hands. 

Derek chokes and asks, “What?”

“We were just talking about the differences in human and werewolf sex.” Agie replies. “I was just taking a survey of how we experience it differently.” Derek just stared at her, apparently rendered speechless, so Agie continued. “Now, Isaac and I are the only ones who can weigh in on the difference between sex before and after getting bit, while Scott and Cora have only experienced sex as werewolves, and Stiles hasn’t ever experienced werewolf sex, the poor boy. Would you like to weigh in?”

Derek’s face was slowly turning a purplish color. After about half a minute of silence, Stiles chips in, “Well, we can safely say that Derek has only experienced werewolf sex. Now, I believe the question was whether or not werewolves experience sex more intensely than humans do.”

Agie would have felt bad for Derek’s obvious discomfort with the situation except for the fact that it was just so entertaining. He finally managed to work himself up to say something; “I am most definitely not having this conversation with a bunch of underage teenagers.”

Agie crosses her arms over her chest, “Well, luckily for you, I’m eighteen, which makes me of age. So you can talk to me about it.”

Derek clenches his jaw, “Fine, if you insist. But not with all of them listening too.”

There was a sudden chorus of protests from everyone. Cora is the only one who doesn’t protest, and instead replies, “Guys, honestly, Agie deserves to have her questions answered. Plus, she can just tell us all afterwards anyway.”

Derek bends down so he’s eye-level with the video camera, “Cora, you realize that ensures that I won’t tell her anything gossip-worthy, right?”

“Oh please, like you’d tell her anything juicy, anyway,” Cora retorts. 

Derek shrugs and doesn’t reply. Stiles leans forward, “Okay, fine. Cora, Scott, Isaac, you guys wanna stay on? I can just boot Agie so she can have her ‘grown up’ discussion with Derek.

Cora and the boys nod and Agie laughs as she says, “Well then, kiddies, have a nice night. Cora, I’ll see you in the morning.”

The screen goes blank as Agie is booted from their group discussion. Agie swirls around on her desk chair and faces Derek. 

“Derek sits down on the edge of her bed, “Are you really going to ask me about sex?”

Agie grins and shakes her head, “Nah, but I do have some questions that I figured you wouldn’t want to answer in front of them all anyway.”

Derek gestures with his arm as if to say, ‘well continue.’

“So what’s the deal between you and Stiles?” 

Derek’s eyebrows raise in surprise as if this wasn’t the question he was at all expecting, “What do you mean? Nothing.”

“Your denial stinks of avoidance.”

“What does that even mean? There’s nothing happening between Stiles and me.”

“Nothing currently, sure, because you have the whole entire state separating you guys. What was going on? Or what might go on again once you go back to Beacon Hills?”

Derek looks down at his knees, “Nothing. Stiles is too young.”

Agie practically claps her hands together, “So there is something!”

“No,” Derek replies emphatically, “There’s nothing going on between us. There might be… potential for something. But it’s definitely not happening. I’m too old, I’d be taking advantage of him.”

Agie crosses her arms over he chest, “So there’s the potential for something, but you think the age gap is too big between the two of you?”

Derek hesitates and then nods his head.

“You realize that excuse might work for now, but it won’t once Stiles hits eighteen, right? And that’s in just a few months.”

“I wouldn’t want to push Stiles into anything. Just because I want… he’s too young to know what he wants.”

“Have you met Stiles though? He’s one of the most stubborn people I’ve ever met before in my life. He had a crush on Lydia Martin for almost ten years. Once he sets his mind to something, he doesn’t let it go.”

“But he was infatuated with Lydia. He didn’t actually want her, he just thought he did. What if that’s what he’s feeling again?”

Agie rose from the chair and walked over to sit next to Derek on the bed. She bumped her shoulder against his and replied, “I don’t think that’s what’s going on this time. But I’m not sure yet. I wanted to ask you first because Stiles is hard to read sometimes, even for me.”

Derek laughs bitterly, “You’re telling me.”

Agie leans her head against Derek’s shoulder, “So you look all gruff and stern, but you’re really a big mush, aren’t you.”

Derek smiles slightly and looks down at Agie. He leans his head against hers and asks, “If I say yes, will you promise to help me maintain my gruff reputation?”

Agie grins and replies, “Of course.”

Derek glances over at the clock on Agie’s bedside table, “So, do you want to go to sleep soon? It’s almost 1:30.”

“Sure. Do you want to… Cora slept in the bed with me. It’s a queen, so it’s big enough… if you want to?”

Derek hesitated and Agie continued, “And of course I’m offering in a completely sisterly way, because I have a boyfriend, and you’re definitely like an older brother, and…”

Derek interrupted her rambling, “Agie, I get it. And if you’re sure, then I guess it’s okay.”

Agie stood up and walked over to her closet, “So I have a pair of sweatpants that belongs to my dad and one that belongs to my boyfriend.” She holds up the two pairs of sweatpants, “Which would you rather wear?”

Derek looks between the two and replies, “Your dads. He’s family, at least. If I’m going to smell like another guy, I’d rather it be family, and not the person who you sleep with.”

Agie laughed and then hushed as she heard Jessica walking by. Luckily, the woman never came into her room, so she wasn’t worried, but she heard her pause outside her bedroom door.

“Agie, are you talking to someone?”

“Yes, Jessica. I’m facetiming with Stiles.”

“Oh, then say hi to him, sweetheart. And good-night.”

“Good night Jessica.”

Derek makes a face, and before he can say anything, Agie whispers, “I know, you sound nothing like Stiles, but what was I supposed to say?”

Derek shrugs, so Agie gathers her pajamas and heads over to the bathroom to get ready and change. When she comes back, Derek is putting his folded jeans on top of the desk chair. She sees his shoes and socks carefully placed below the chair also. Agie grins at how meticulous he is and heads over to her bed, “Everyone is in their bedrooms in you want to sneak out to the bathroom,” she holds out a pink and turquoise toothbrush towards him, “This is an extra if you want it. And it’s awesome since you can hear anyone coming so you won’t get caught. It was one thing explaining to my dad why Cora was sleeping in my bed, but it would be a whole different story trying to explain why you are in my bedroom at night.”

Derek grins and takes the toothbrush, “Thanks.” He turns the toothbrush over and studies the colors at different angles. He lifts one eyebrow up but doesn’t say anything, and he quietly lets himself out of the bedroom and Agie listens as he walks down the hall and closes the door to the bathroom. 

Agie gets into bed and checks that the alarm is set on her phone. She begins her routine of counting heartbeats, and spends a few minutes listening as Derek brushes his teeth. As she’s finishing counting the heartbeats of her neighbors, Derek quietly lets himself back into her room. 

“Do you want me to shut the light off?”

“Sure.”

Derek slowly walks over and lowers himself onto the bed about as far away from Agie as possible. She grins and rolls over so that her back is to him.


	10. Chapter 10

When the alarm goes off, Agie groans and rolls over to shut it off. She drops her phone and rolls onto her back again, letting her arm fall to the side. She startles when her arm hits another body and she glances over to see Derek staring at her with wide eyes.

“I didn’t mean, I mean, I was going to, but—“

“Derek, it’s fine. I know you meant to wake up and disappear before I woke up so you could be all mysterious and everything. But look,” she says as she points at the window, “it’s 6am, the sun is barely up, I’m sure you can sneak out without anyone noticing. Or you could just wait until everybody is up and leaves and then sneak out then. It’s not problem.”

“But I meant to wake up. How am I supposed to protect you if I’m so sound asleep that I don’t wake up when the sun rises?”

Agie reaches out and places a hand on Derek’s upper arm, “I’m sure if the Alpha had tried to break in here last night, you would have woken up.”

Derek hesitates and then nods, “Do you need to get up?”

Agie throws her arm over her eyes, “Yes. But I don’t want to. Do you think I could claim being traumatized after last night? Would my dad buy that?”

Derek tries to look stern, but Agie can tell by the crinkling around his eyes, “You should probably go to school. It’ll look bad if Cora misses school on her second week, and she would definitely be cranky if you cut without her.”

“Fine. You’re right. See? You’re such a positive role model.”

“Yes. I am. Now go, so I can change back into my clothes. None of your neighbors sound like they’re up yet, so I’m going to try to make a break for it.”

“You should be fine, my step-sister is the only other one with a bedroom that overlooks the backyard, and she is definitely not awake yet,” Agie says as she rolls out of bed. “So I’ll see you at school?”

Derek nods as he gets out of bed and walks towards his clothing at the desk chair. Agie makes sure she closes the door quietly behind her so she doesn’t wake Connie up as she heads to the bathroom. When she gets back from taking a shower, Derek is gone and her window is closed. Agie closes her eyes for a second and takes a deep breath. There is a definite difference between the smell of Derek when he’s presently in the room and Derek when he’s not in the room. There’s a difference between here and not-here. Agie files the knowledge away for later, and goes about getting ready for school.

She goes downstairs and eats breakfast with her dad again. After kissing her good morning, he asks, “So, are Derek and Cora coming over for family dinner tonight?”

“I’m pretty sure they are,” Agie responds, “I just have to make sure that Derek is free.”

“Great. Just let me know once you hear from him. I’m cooking a surprise tonight.”

Agie looks up at her dad in surprise, “Oh? You’re going to cook tonight?”

“Don’t look at me like that,” her father responds over his coffee mug, “I know that Jessica isn’t the best cook. I want our first family dinner in a while to be something great. I’m going to make one of your mother’s recipes.”

Agie looked down as she felt her eyes tear up for a few seconds, “That sounds like a great idea, dad.”

He put down his coffee mug and walked over to Agie and kissed her on the head, “I love you, kiddo. I know that it sucks, that I’m out on the road so much, but I want to make our time while I’m home special.”

“It’s always special when you’re home, dad.”

He grins and brings his empty cereal bowl to the sink, “Well, don’t you have school to go to? We’re both going to start crying if you stay here much longer.”

Agie gets up and takes her empty cereal bowl to the sink too. She hugs her father and takes a deep breath, smelling all of the different scents that make up her father. Somehow, he smells the same as always, but now she can pick up so many different smells too, things that she can’t even identify or understand.

“Hey so here are the keys to my car,” Agie’s dad says as she lifts up her backpack, “I’m going to get your brakes fixed today, so you might as well take my car, okay?”

“Are you sure, dad? Your Mustang is your baby.” Agie asks uncertainty.

“No, you are my baby. I got up early this morning and gave the Mustang a full inspection, and everything is in perfect shape. I trust you to drive it around for one day, so don’t worry about it.”

Agie grins and nods, “I promise I’ll take care of it.”

“I know you will,” her father responds and gives her a quick hug again before she heads out the door. 

As Agie is getting into the car, she gets a text from Cora, “I think its ur turn to get the coffee”. Agie grins and makes sure to stop and buy three iced coffees on the way to school.

When she gets out of her dad’s Mustang, she smiles to see that Jason is already waiting for her. She waves and he meets her a few feet from her car. He wraps one arm around her waist and she stretches up for a kiss. He looks down at the coffees and asks, “Why are you driving your dad’s car? And who are those for?”

“Cora and Derek.” Agie replies, completely skipping over his first question.

Jason’s face contorts briefly before he puts a smile back on it, “You’re bringing coffee to Derek now?”

“No,” Agie replies strongly as she starts walking towards Derek’s car where she see’s Cora waiting for her, “I’m bringing coffee for my friend Cora, and since Derek drives her every day, I brought one for him too.”

“How come you didn’t get me anything?” Jason asks, and Agie would have sworn under oath that he had a pout on his face.

“Because you don’t like coffee and you always say, and I quote, ‘iced tea is an afternoon drink, not a morning drink’ end quote. You’re too picky, so you have to get your own caffeinated beverages.”

Agie can see Cora and Derek grinning, and assumes that they’re listening to her talk as she walks across the parking lot towards them. Derek gets out of the car and leans against it next to Cora.

“Fine. Whatever. If you bought me a coffee, I would drink it, as long as it’s not all girly, like that whipped cream one,” Jason says as he points at the caramel machiatto with extra whipped cream on top, “It’s a good thing that one is for Cora.”

“Actually,” Derek says as they finally approach the car, “That one is for me.”

Jason just gapes at Derek momentarily as Agie hands the drinks out to the Hale siblings. Derek happily takes a sip of his highly sweetened beverage, and then grins at Jason widely. Agie has to hold back a laugh because she hadn’t realized that there was a difference between Derek’s genuine smile and his fake one, but now that she saw a fake grin, it was easy to tell the two apart. 

Cora looks down at her coffee in surprise, “Is there coconut in this?”

Agie grins and replies, “Yea. I thought it sounded interesting. If you don’t like it, there’s blueberry in mine.”

Cora looks at the two coffee speculatively, “Let me just try it.” The two girls switch coffees and each take a taste, before shrugging and trading the coffees back. Derek watches with curiosity, and then grins and tries each of the coffees when Cora and Agie offer him a taste. The entire exchange takes place silently, and Jason just stares at the three of them in some mixture of shock and confusion. 

Agie decides to take pity on him before he says something else embarrassing, so she wraps her arm around his and asks, “So, you want to walk me to homeroom?”

Jason nods fervently, as if he’s excited to have an excuse to get away from Derek without actually having to say anything. Derek nods and goes to open his car door as the three high schoolers start walking towards school.

Agie turns back suddenly and says, “Oh! Derek, my dad wants to make sure that we’re all still on for dinner tonight.”

Derek’s eyebrows rise for a brief moment, but he replies smoothly, “Family dinner. Of course. What can we bring?”

Agie shrugs and replies, “I’m not sure. Dessert maybe?”

Derek nods and gets into his car silently. He waves as he shifts the car into reverse and carefully backs out before pulling out of the parking lot.

“Family dinner,” Cora remarks, “I had forgotten about that.”

“Yea, me too, what with all the excitement last night.” Agie replies.

“What? What excitement?” Jason asks in confusion. He’s still walking in step with the two girls, and he’s glancing rapidly between the two girls’ faces as if one of them might give him a clue.

“Oh, my brake lines were cut last night.”

“What?” Jason exclaims. “Why didn’t you call me?”

“Because I was kind of in a panic, at first, and I just hit my last call, which happened to be Cora. But it all turned out to be just fine and everything, and my dad helped to take care of everything.”

“Oh, so I guess that’s why you’re driving his car today?” Jason asks, as if he suddenly put two and two together.

“Yea, he’s going to fix my brakes today, so I only get to drive his baby for one day.”

They reach Cora’s homeroom class and Cora reaches over to hug her as she says, “Okay, I’ll see you during lunch?”

Agie nods and loops her arm back in with Jason’s. They keep walking towards her class, but when they reach the stairwell just before it, Jason’s pulls her off to the side and says, “This way, she won’t interrupt us so quickly.”

Agie grins and pulls his neck down towards hers so that they can kiss, “So the other night was pretty hot, right?”

Jason just grins and nods as he leans down further and sucks a hickey into her neck, “Didn’t I leave marks? I distinctly remember leaving hickeys on your neck.”

Agie shrugs, “Maybe that was your other girlfriend,” she jokes. 

“Don’t be stupid,” Jason replies harshly.

“What? I’m just kidding,” Agie replies as she hears her teacher step out into the hallway. The distinctive click of her heels on the floor was usually her only signal that she was going to shut the classroom door, and that anyone stuck on the outside would be marked late. “Hey, I’ve got to go; I don’t want detention today.”

Jason nodded and slapped at her butt as she stepped out into the hallway. She swatted at him, but just grinned at her teacher as she slipped inside the classroom. 

The rest of the day goes smoothly. Agie gets lunch with Cora, Cheryl, Jason, and two of his friends. One of them spends most of the period flirting with Cora, who seems just as happy to flirt back.

As school ends, Cora meets Agie at her homeroom and asks, “Hey, you mind driving me home in that awesome car of yours? Derek just had to go run some errands.”

Agie just nods and replies, “Sure, no problem.”

As they get into the car, Agie asks, “So I’m assuming ‘errands’ is code for ‘tracking the Alpha’?”

Cora nods.

“Does he want help?”

“He said no, but that he would text if he needed anything.”

“All right no problem. Here, call my dad on my phone and just tell him I’m driving you home, okay? I don’t want him worrying that I’m taking his car out for a joyride or something.”

“Actually, what if I just came home with you?” Cora suggests.

Agie pauses for a second, “Yea, that makes sense.”

Cora glances over, “You don’t mind, do you? I know you’ve been taking this all really well, but Derek and I have pretty much invaded your life, and we haven’t really asked how you feel about it.”

Agie shakes her head as she pulls out of the parking lot, “Cora, I totally appreciate that you and Derek are actively saving my life, but besides that, I actually really like you guys.”

Cora nods and grins, “Okay, good then. Because we really like you too.”

“Good. So do you want to do homework first, or should we do wolfy training things?”

“How about a little bit of both at the same time?”

“What do you mean?” Agie asks as she makes sure that she checks all of her mirrors and makes sure that she stays under the speed limit. 

“Well, we can do our homework, and you can multitask by focusing on your senses at the same time.” 

Agie shrugs and agrees to Cora’s suggestion. After a few minutes, she pulls into the driveway and parks her dad’s car in the garage carefully. The two girls go in the back door and drop their backpacks near the stairs. Agie heads into the kitchen and hugs her dad as she says, “Oh my god dad! This smells amazing!”

“Mr. Slowaki, what is this! It smells great!”

“Hey girls! I’m making pierogi and gulasz stew. And a surprise dessert. But do you want a snack? I’m assuming you have some homework to do or something?”

“We do, I figured we’d take a snack up to my room and work there?”

“Sure. I picked up some fruit, and we have cheese in the fridge, and some crackers and pretzels in the cabinet.”

“Dad, did you go food shopping?” Agie asks as she walks towards the fridge.

He nods as he stirs the stew, and Cora asks, “Oh, hey, can we have some of that cheese?”

Agie pulls the brick of cheese out of the fridge and grabs a plate and a knife, and then grabs a sleeve of Ritz crackers and tossed the crackers to Cora. 

After a eating a whole brick of cheese and finishing their homework, Agie pushes her books to the side and collapses backwards onto her bed. 

“Okay, so that might have been the most exhausting two hours of homework ever!”

Cora chuckles and lies back on the bed next to Agie, “So how did the multitasking go?”

“It was hard at first. I like to listen to people’s heartbeats. I do it every night before I go to sleep, just to check, you know? So I was just seeing how many people I could hear while working on the math. And then I decided to try to see what my dad was making for dessert while I was working on the science lab, and I’m still not positive, but I’m pretty sure there’s cinnamon in it. And then, while I was trying to read that chapter of Dickens, which by the way, I didn’t even finish, I just give up, that book is so horrible. Anyway, I can see the fibers of the paper in between the letters if I stare really close. It’s kind of awesome.”

Cora rolls onto her side and nudges against Agie, “Pretty impressive.”

“Hey, is that Derek’s car?” Agie asks as she shifts upwards and rests her weight on her elbows. 

Cora shifts as well to match Agie’s position, “Yea. I figured he’d call or text or something before heading over here, but sometimes,” Cora shrugs, “Derek doesn’t always do things the way people would expect him to. You know, like asking what time to come over.”

“Agie said dinner. It’s dinnertime. Plus, I wanted to be a little early, just to be polite. And stuff.” Derek says from his car. 

Agie laughed at the simple fact that they could hear each other from so far away while speaking in simple conversational tones. “Hey, so werewolves don’t really have much privacy, do they?”

Derek and Cora both laughed and Cora replied, “Practically none at all.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“So Derek, come knock on the front door, that way you can come in and meet my dad, and then we’ll come downstairs and act all surprised that you’re here.”

Agie hears the car door slam shut and she pushes a few of her books off her bed, “I’d be happy to never see another Dickens novel again, and we’re only halfway through this thing.”

Both girls look towards Agie’s door as they hear the doorbell ring.

“That does suck.” Cora replies, “We had to read A Christmas Carol last year, and I swear, the story itself is good, but he spends so much freaking time just describing every little thing that I wanted to tear my hair out. And that was his shortest book. I do not envy you reading that.”

Agie’s father opens the door and the girls pause as Agie’s father says, “Oh my god, you have to be Derek. You look just like your mother!”

“Mr. Slowaki, it’s nice to see you again. When Agie mentioned that you had been friends with your parents, I didn’t remember you, but now that I see you, I do remember you.” Derek replied smoothly. 

“Yes, well, it has been years, and you were young then. Hey, let me call the girls, they’ve been upstairs doing their homework since they got back from school.” Agie hears her father take a few steps towards the stairs and he calls up, “Agie! Cora! Derek is here, why don’t you come downstairs?”

“Coming, dad!” Agie shouts down, before turning back to Cora and continuing, “Well, make sure you get your GED before going to senior year then, because I’m pretty sure they always make you read Dickens before you can graduate high school.”

Cora shrugs and both girls rise from the bed and head down the stairs. Cora jumps off the last step and Derek catches her in a hug. She turns to Agie’s father and says, “Mr. Slowaki, thanks so much for inviting us to dinner. We haven’t had a real family dinner in a long time.”

“Of course guys. And please, you don’t have to call me Mr. Slowaki. Just Jack is fine.”

“All right. Jack, I brought some red wine and also banana bread.” Derek says as he offers out the two items that had gotten dropped on the table in the entryway. “Agie wasn’t sure what you were making for dinner, but Cora and I had some ripe bananas in the house, so I made our mother’s recipe.”

“Oh, her banana bread was the best! That will go perfectly – I made a poppy seed loaf for dessert. And Jessica will love the wine. Thank you, Derek.”

“Of course, we didn’t to come empty handed.”

Agie steps towards Derek as her father walks towards the kitchen with the banana bread and wine, “Derek, did you really spend the afternoon baking?”

Derek smiled and nodded. He bumped playfully into her shoulder as the two of them walked down the hallway after her father. Cora walked behind them and asked quietly, “Anything else interesting happen today?”

“Unfortunately, nothing to report,” Derek replied just as quietly. 

The phone rang as she walked into the kitchen, so Agie said, “I’ve got it!” as she picked up the cordless phone. “Hello?”

Agie heard the person on the other end of the line inhale and exhale before he said, “Can I talk to Jessica?”

“She’s not home,” Agie replied, “but you can talk to my dad, if you want.”

A sharp inhale and then the line went dead.

“That was weird,” Agie said as she put the phone back in the cradle.

“Who was that, sweetie?” 

“I don’t know, dad, it was a man, but he hung up on me when I told him Jessica wasn’t home.”

Agie’s father’s eyebrows came together in a scowl, “That person may have called earlier too. There were three phone calls throughout the day that hung up on me as soon as I picked up.”

“Dad, that’s super wierd,” Agie said as she sat down on a stool at the island in the kitchen, facing her father.

“It is. I’ll have to ask Jessica if she was expecting any calls today.” Agie’s father stirs the stew and leans over to smell it. “Well, dinner is almost ready. How was everyone’s day?”

Derek looks over to Cora and Agie, so they take turns describing how their day at school was. After they finish their narrations, Agie’s father turns to Derek and asks, “What about you, Derek? What are you up to these days?”

“I went shopping today, and then went for a run. Then after, I made the banana bread and cleaned. Cora has domesticated me,” Derek replies with a laugh.

“So no work today?”

“Well, I’m not working right now. We weren’t sure how long we would be staying in LA, and we have enough money from the life insurance that I didn’t need to worry about it working yet. But we might actually be staying here for a while, so I’m thinking about looking for a job now.”

“Hey, Der, that’s great! You need something to do with your time.” Cora punched gently at Derek’s shoulder and he grinned at her.

“Do you have anything in mind? I know a couple people who are always looking for work, if you want, I could call them,” Agie’s father offered.

Derek shrugs, “I got my BA in architecture, but I haven’t done much towards pursuing a career lately. So, I guess, I’m up for anything. I think I’d prefer something part-time though, just so I can still be home for Cora.”

“That makes sense. Let’s see, my friend Joe owns a bar, I’m sure he could use some help tending bar, or even as a bouncer on weekends. Or Bob owns that furniture store over by Agie and Cora’s school. And Mike has the Italian restaurant, if you don’t mind waiting. Oh, and then there’s Phyllis. She owns a cute used bookstore. She just mentioned to me yesterday that one of her employees just had a baby and is taking a few months off.”

Derek looked thoughtful for a minute, “The book store might have the best hours. I’ve tended bar before, but I don’t think I want to work nights now.”

“Perfect. I’ll call Phyllis in the morning then.”

“Der, I can just imagine you working at a used book store. There’s probably a little grey cat and you’re just going to look so cute there!” Cora said as she leaned her elbows down on the island counter. 

Agie hears a buzzing all of a sudden, and sees that Cora and Derek both glance at Agie’s father. “Dad, is that your cell phone vibrating?”

“What?” Her dad asks as he pats at his pockets, “Oh! It is. I forgot I had put it on vibrate. I miss having young ears. Thanks for hearing it. Oh, hi Jessica,” he says in quick succession as he pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and answers it. 

Agie can clearly hear Jessica as she speaks, “Hi honey. Sorry we’re running late, but I just picked Connie up from cheerleading practice. We’re heading home right now.”

“No problem. Derek and Cora are here, and dinner is ready, so we’ll start setting the table.”

“Sounds great.”

Cora and Agie set the table as Derek helped Agie’s father put all of the food on serving plates and carry it out to the table. Agie’s dad opened the bottle of wine that Derek and brought and poured a glass for himself, Jessica, and Derek. Agie, Cora, and Connie had a choice of water or apple juice, even though both Agie and Cora asked for just a small taste of wine. Derek and Agie’s father both denied them. 

As they finished setting everything, Jessica and Connie swept in through the front door. Jessica put down a few shopping bags near the front door and came over to kiss Agie’s father as Connie stopped dramatically in the doorway to the dining room. 

Agie glanced over to see Connie staring open-mouthed at Derek as he finished placing glasses around the table. “Hey, Con, this is Derek. He’s Cora’s older brother. You remember Cora, right?”

Connie visibly shakes herself and stammers, “Oh, yes, of course. Hi Cora.” She blinks a few times and takes a few steps into the room, but her eyes don’t leave Derek’s face. He looks up, as if he can feel the weight of her eyes on him, and she says, “It’s nice to meet you Derek.”

“It’s nice to meet you and your mother,” Derek replies, “And thanks for having Cora and I over for dinner.”

“Well, of course, sweet-heart,” Jessica says as she walks over and places her hand on Derek’s upper arm. “How could we not invite you over after we found out you were old family friends. Plus, no one should be without family.”

Derek looked down at where her hand was still placed on his arm and then over at Connie, who had managed to come closer to the table, but who was still staring at Derek. “Thanks,” he replied drily. 

“Well, who’s hungry? Let’s sit down and eat before everything gets cold,” Agie’s father said as he clapped his hands together.

Everyone settled down into seats. Agie’s father sat at the head of the table and Jessica sat at her normal spot at his left hand with Connie next to her. Agie sat at her dad’s right with Cora next to her. Derek ended up sitting at the foot of the table directly across from her dad. 

Connie seemed to take this as a signal that she could start a conversation with Derek. She swirled the end of her pony-tail in her fingers as she asked, “So, Derek, what college do you go to?”

Derek coughs as he puts his spoon into the stew, “I graduated from NYU last year, and I was going to start grad school at Baruch until I moved back to California a few months ago. I’m not in school now, though.”

“Oh,” Connie replies as she looks down at her plate. Agie is assuming that she’s counting in her head, trying to figure out how old Derek is, and coming to the conclusion that he’s almost ten years older than her. Agie realized that she wasn’t sure how old Derek was either, but that it didn’t really matter to her because she wasn’t looking at him in a romantic light. She’d have to have a talk with Stiles soon. She kept adding things to her ‘ask Stiles about’ list. 

“Derek, what did you go to school for?” Jessica asks as she sips at her stew.

“Architecture.” Derek replies, and promptly shoves a pierogi into his mouth whole. Agie assumes this is a tactic so that he doesn’t have to be expected to respond immediately. However, instead of chewing quietly and having attention divert away from him, Derek’s eyes widened and he mumbled around his food, “Jack, these are delicious!”

Agie’s dad chuckles quietly, “I’m glad you enjoy them. They are an old family recipe. I always mean to cook more, but it’s never been my specialty. Agie’s mom was the chef in the family.”

“Yea, Jack,” Cora contributes, “It really is all delicious.”

“Thanks Cora, I’m glad you guys are enjoying it.”

“I wish we could eat this all the time!” Cora added.

“Well, you could. I mean, if you go back to Beacon Hills, Stiles has all of these recipes too. Agie said you were friends with him, so I’m sure he’d cook for you sometime.”

“Stiles knows how to cook?” Derek asks.

Agie nods, “He does. And he’s actually really good at it too. You just have to convince him to stay still long enough to do it.”

Cora chuckles, “That sounds like Stiles.”

“We’ll have to ask Stiles to cook something for us when we go back up to Beacon Hills then,” Derek says thoughtfully.

“But you’re not going to leave anytime soon, right?” Connie asked suddenly. 

Agie’s father glanced at Connie in surprise. To see Connie act so interested in something, when she was normally so blasé about everything, was surprising. 

“We’re not sure. Cora is definitely going to finish out the school year. And we’ll see what we’re going to do come fall,” Derek said, looking over at Cora and Agie. 

Agie smiled down at her food. Part of her was happy that Derek and Cora were willing to base their decisions around her. But part also felt bad that they were going out of their way to take care of her. Agie was planning on starting college in the fall, but she didn’t want Derek and Cora to feel like they had to follow her and protect her for the rest of her life. She needed to find a way to live independently and safely. She loved having Cora and Derek around, she just didn’t want them to need to be around. She would rather it be a choice that they made.

Agie turned to her father, “Maybe we can go up to Beacon Hills over the summer? Like a big family vacation?”

Agie’s father nodded her head, “I’m sure I can take at least a week or two off. And if you guys wouldn’t mind, I’d love that.”

Derek and Cora both nodded, “We’d love to go back and see everybody,” Cora says.

“Plus, I’d love to see how the house is doing. We finally tore it down and contractors have been rebuilding it for the past few months. Stiles has been keeping me updated with the progress, but I’d really like to see it in person.”

Agie’s father nodded as he took a sip of his wine, “That sounds good. Did you help to design the house?”

Derek nodded, “Laura and I actually designed the house years ago, while we were still living in New York together.”

Jessica looks like she’s about to say something, so Agie interrupts her, “Derek, do you have any pictures we could see?”

Derek nods as he pulls out his cell phone. He looks through it for a few seconds, before he hands it over to Cora. She glances at it and smiles and passes it to Agie. She looks down in surprise at a beautiful large white house with a porch all around the first floor and dark green shutters on all of the windows on the top floor. 

“They just finished the exterior,” Derek explains, “And now they’re working on all of the interior things like plumbing and electrical.”

Agie passes the phone to her father who studies the picture before passing it to Jessica, “Derek, I love how you’ve kept the feel of the house while still updating a few things.”

“Oh, Derek, honey, it’s just beautiful!” Jessica says enthusiastically as she passes the phone over to Connie. 

“Thank you, Jessica. We’re planning on making a lot of updates inside the house too, while maintaining a lot of the original feel of the house. It’s going to be a challenge, but I’m looking forward to turning it into a home again.”

Agie suddenly feels bad, now that she’s realized exactly what she’s keeping Derek from. The apartment that they’re living in now is really nice, but this is their home. Their home that they’re finally fixing up after it burned down years ago. 

Connie hands the phone back to Derek without saying anything, possibly because she can’t think of a way to attempt to flirt with him. Agie does notice that Connie’s fingers do brush up against Derek’s as he takes the phone from her. 

“Derek, that sounds like such a great idea. I can’t wait to see the house this summer now,” Agie’s father says.

Derek smiles down at his plate and Cora reaches over and places her hand on top of his. 

Jessica gets up from the table, “Is everyone just about done? I’ll start clearing the table.”

Agie looks around the table and sees that everyone’s plates are pretty much empty. At some point in the conversation, everyone had devoured pretty much all of the food.

“I hope you all left room for dessert, it should be delicious,” Agie’s father says.

“Oh dad, you know I can’t eat dessert. I’m still trying to lose three more pounds,” Connie says.

“And you know that I’ve said over and over that your body is just perfect the way it is,” Agie’s father replied.

“Well, it’s her choice,” Jessica said as she entered back into the dining room.

Agie glanced over at Cora and rolled her eyes and grinned as Cora stifled a chuckle.

“Plus, darling, it’s almost 6:30. Don’t you want to shower before I take you over to Darcy’s house?”

“Oh, right. Thanks for reminding me mom!” Connie said as she stood up and was about to dash out of the dining room before Agie’s father said something.  
“Connie, don’t forget to take your plate over.”

“Oh, yea.” Connie said as she stepped back to the table and grabbed her plate and glass and rushed into the kitchen. Agie listened as Connie dropped her dishes in the sink and then ran up the stairs to her bedroom.

“So, dad,” Agie said, “It looks like it might be just us for dessert.”

Agie’s dad shrugged, “Do you think we’ll be able to eat everything?”

Cora laughs and says, “I saved room, and I’m excited about this poppy seed cake!”

Agie’s dad claps and says, “Perfect! Do you guys want to eat now, or do you want to watch some tv first?”

“Whichever is good for you,” Derek replied. 

“Well, let’s help Jessica clear the table and then we’ll see if anything good is on tv. If not, we’ll just eat.”

Agie stood up and took her plate into the kitchen as Derek and Cora followed. Agie noticed that Derek was carrying not only his plate and dish, but also the serving plate that the pierogis had been in.


	11. Chapter 11

Agie and her father sat on one couch while Cora and Derek curled up on the other couch. They all instantly agreed to watch The Princess Bride when they saw that it was on, and the four of them were laughing as they quoted lines along with the actors. 

Jessica walked into the living room and said, “All right, I’m dropping Connie off and going to a Tupperware party. Derek, Cora, it was so nice meeting the two of you.”

Cora just waves, but Derek looks up and replies, “It was nice meeting you too.”

Agie listens as Jessica and Connie talk quietly to each other as they get into Jessica’s car and leave. She looks over to her dad and asks, “You want me to go get dessert ready?”

Derek leans forward, “We can help.”

Agie nods and walks into the kitchen with Derek following behind her. “So why couldn’t you find the Alpha today?” Agie asks quietly, “I thought it would be easier now that we’ve met him and know his scent, right?”

Derek shrugs as he unwraps the banana bread he had brought, “Usually, yes. But Alphas can mask their scent, if they want to.”

“So, the Alpha is hiding from us on purpose?”

“That’s what it looks like.” Derek replied, nodding.

“Well, I’m okay with him so long as he doesn’t come anywhere near us again.”

“Me too, but what are the odds of that?” Cora asks as she walks into the kitchen, “Your dad’s phone just rang, so I figured I’d come in here and help you guys.”

Agie nods and listens to her father’s conversation. She frowns as she hears the voice of a man talking about routes. Apparently it’s her father’s next job. After her mother died, Agie’s dad was only taking limited deliveries close to home, and he struggled to pay the bills for a few years. But once he married Jessica and felt confident that someone was looking after Agie, he became more flexible with the deliveries he took. Her dad drove the big eighteen-wheelers and did deliveries throughout the entire western half of the country. Agie knew that he got paid extra because he was willing to take pretty much any delivery at any time with next to no notice, and she knew that her father was grateful to have a well-paying job. But she hated that he was gone all the time. 

Agie listens has her dad hangs up and then turns to busy herself grabbing dessert plates and forks as he walks into the kitchen, “Well, honey, I have some bad news. I’m going to have to leave Wednesday morning for my next delivery.”

“Shoot.” Agie says, “But that means we still have tomorrow to hang out, right?”

Her father nods, “I’m going to call Phyllis in the morning for Derek, and then maybe I could pick you up from school? I was thinking, we haven’t been to the beach yet this year, we could over to Venice and spend the evening together.”

“Dad, that sounds so perfect! I was going to help Cora with a project tomorrow, but do you think we could do it another time Cora?”

“I’m sure we could figure something out,” Cora replies, looking at Derek with a worried look on her face. Agie assumes she knows what Cora is thinking. The Alpha had been pretty specific that he wanted to get rid of Agie, and that the only thing that had protected her was Derek and Cora’s presence. Agie didn’t want to rely on them, but she also didn’t want to put her dad in any danger.

“I could help Cora out,” Derek said.

Agie’s father nods, “That sounds great then. So, did I mention I also have ice cream?”

Agie laughs as her father opens the freezer and pulls out a gallon of vanilla and a gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream, and the four of them end up eating dessert around the island in the kitchen, laughing and telling stories the whole time. 

**

After they helped clean up the dessert plates, Derek and Cora said their good-nights. Cora winked at Agie as she was leaving out the front door, and Agie knew that Derek would probably already be in her room when she got there.

Agie and her dad watched the end of The Princess Bride on tv, and then Agie kissed her dad’s head as she went upstairs to get ready for bed. Her dad said he wanted to wait up for Jessica, since she shouldn’t be out too much longer that the Tupperware party. When Agie got upstairs, she opened her bedroom door and grinned when she saw both Cora and Derek there. 

“We figured there wasn’t much of a point having Derek drive me home and then coming back here.” Cora whispered in explanation. “Can we both sleep here?”

“Of course,” Agie whispered back. She ducked her head into the hallway and whispered back, “I have another spare toothbrush for you Cora, but we should probably all make one trip to the bathroom so my dad doesn’t notice anything weird.”

They nodded and agreed, and Agie watched as both Derek and Cora slipped their shoes off before following her down the hall. Agie turned the shower on to cover up any noises that they could have made, even though she doubted her dad could hear them over the sound of the TV. The three of the brushed their teeth and took turns going to the bathroom before they all headed back to Agie’s bedroom.

“I’ll sleep on the floor,” Derek offered.

“Really?” Agie asked as she pulled out the sweatpants Derek had slept in the previous night, “I’m sure we can all fit in the bed.”

“You don’t mind?” Derek asked.

“No, I actually kind of like having you guys close. I’ve never really slept with people in my bed before much, but it feels nice knowing you guys are with me.”

“That makes sense,” Cora replies softly, “Werewolves are pack animals. We take comfort in having our pack close, so you probably feel better knowing that we’re here.”

Agie nods, “That’s not the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. So, does the Beacon Hills pack have cuddle sessions?”

Derek chuckled, “Not as a unit. Unfortunately, we spend a large bulk of the time just trying to stay alive. We had a string of… bad luck for a while there.”

“Erica, Boyd, and I used to cuddle. But that was mostly because we had no comfortable place to sit or rest and the vault wasn’t heated,” Cora said thoughtfully.

Agie stared at her for a few seconds as she processes the words. Derek looks down guiltily as Agie asks, “What?”

Cora looks up suddenly, “Sorry. I… it’s weird, I feel like I’ve known you forever, I just forget sometimes you don’t know everything. When I first came back to Beacon Hills, before I found Derek, I was kidnapped with two members of his pack and held hostage in a bank vault for three months.”

“Holy fucking shit, Cora.” Agie whispers fiercely. “Why… how… what happened?”

“It was a pack of Alphas that did it. They were trying to attack the pack, and wanted to turn us feral so we’d attack the pack for them. It didn’t work out the way they expected it to though.”

Agie blinks furiously several times. “You just said a pack of Alphas. And we can turn feral? And, oh my god!”

Derek stepped forward, “Alpha packs are rare, but they do happen, occasionally. This particular pack was led by a… well, lunatic is a kind word to describe him. But they were all taken care of. And werewolves can be turned feral if they’re prevented from changing during the full moon. You don’t have to change, but if your actually forced not to, it can drive you crazy once you finally are exposed to the full moon.”

“And we did actually go feral, for a little bit,” Cora points out. “And if it weren’t for Scott and Derek we would have hurt a lot of people. And we ended up hurting Derek instead. Because he’s a self-sacrificing martyr,” Cora added as if it were an insult or a repetition of a fight they had often had. 

“I am not a martyr,” Derek whispered back, “I was trying to protect someone who I thought was an innocent woman. It’s not my fault that she turned out to be an evil psychopath!”

“You should have just let us kill her that night. Then we would have prevented so much other shit.”

“But we wouldn’t have known that she was the Darach, and you would have thought you killed an innocent person!” 

“We would have thought that for a little while, but then we would have all realized that she wasn’t innocent when our eyes stayed gold. And when the people suddenly stopped dying!”

Agie held her hands up, “So I feel like I’m missing whole chunks of this story.”

Derek sighed and opened his mouth to explain when Cora beat him to the punch, “It’s complicated. But basically an Alpha pack came to Beacon Hills because they wanted to convince Derek to join their pack. But before he could do that, he had to kill his whole pack, and gain their powers—yes, that’s a thing, don’t ask—but Derek refused to do that because he’s a decent human being. There was also a Darach, a dark druid, a… well basically an evil witch who was trying to stop the Alpha pack. So, she wasn’t completely evil because she was trying to stop the Alpha pack from doing bad shit. But she was super twisted, and her method of stopping them involved sacrificing like, a dozen people. So, Alpha pack fucking shit up. The Darach was fucking shit up, except no one knew who she was. And in the meantime, Derek decided to start dating the new pretty English teacher at the high school, even though he apparently has bad taste in women, even though I still don’t know that whole story, you have to ask Stiles about it, although I’m not sure he’ll tell you because he hasn’t told me yet. But anyway, we eventually realized that the Darach was Derek’s girlfriend when she kidnapped Stiles’ dad and Scott’s mom, and then Derek and Scott worked together to convince the leader of the Alpha pack and the Darach to take each other out, which in the process made Scott evolve into an Alpha, because he’s one of the special kinds of Alphas that can just gain the power without having to kill another Alpha or inherit it from a family member. And in the process of all of that, I was dying of mistletoe poisoning, thanks to the Darach, so Derek used his Alpha powers to heal me, but that cost him the powers and he reverted back to being a Beta.” Cora looked over at Derek, “Did I leave anything important out?”

“Well, Lydia is a banshee, and Stiles pretty much figured everything out with her help, otherwise we might still be in the dark about things.” Derek added quietly.

Agie looked back and forth between Derek and Cora, “And this is normal werewolf life?”

They both shook their heads, “No. Growing up, we lived like normal humans, who just happened to turn into werewolves on the full moon, and who had some extra senses. But this, the pastyear, has been crazy. I didn’t even know that Darachs or druids or banshees were real until recently,” Derek explains.

Agie nods, “So what happened to Erica and Boyd, the ones you used to cuddle with?”

“The Alphas killed them,” Cora replied even quieter. 

“Fuck.”

“Yea,” Cora answered.

Derek glanced at the time on his phone, “It’s almost midnight. Sleep?”

Agie nodded, “Can I ask more questions tomorrow?”

“Of course,” Derek replied.

Agie looked at her bed and then stepped towards Derek and Cora and wrapped one arm around each of them and pulled them into a hug. “What’s this for?” Cora asked.

“It sounds like you guys went through shit recently. I think I’d want to leave after that too. And hugs make everything better,” Agie explained.

Agie felt Derek grin against her neck as he wrapped an arm around her waist and held her tight. Cora also wrapped an arm around her back and hugged back. 

After a few moments in the embrace, the three of the stepped apart and then moved towards the bed. Agie slept on her normal side by the window, and Cora nestled between her and Derek. Agie checked to make sure that her alarm was set, and after going through her normal routine of counting heartbeats, she noticed that neither Jessica’s nor Connie’s were home yet, she fell asleep.


	12. Chapter 12

Agie’s dad drove her to school in the morning and promised to be waiting for her when she got out of school. Agie smiled because she felt like most high schoolers would be embarrassed to have their dad drop them off and pick them up from school, but it made Agie happy. She cherished every moment she got to spend with her dad, and she liked how this reminded her of the days when it was just her and her dad. 

Agie met up with Cora where she was waiting with two coffees at the doors to school. “Derek already left,” Cora said as she handed Agie the drink. 

“Thanks,” Agie replied as the two girls walked into school together. “So I woke up today feeling … safe. It was really nice.”

Cora bumped into Agie’s shoulders, “That’s pack. That’s how it feels.”

“Cool. So, what’s the plan for this afternoon?”

“Well, Derek and I were thinking, it’s been a while since we were at the beach, and after your dad suggested that last night, we decided we’d really like to go to the beach also. Completely separately from you, of course. It’ll just be a bit of a coincidence that we end up at the same beach. And we don’t have to hang out or anything, we can stay far enough away that your dad doesn’t notice us. We just want to be there.”

Agie nods, “Thanks. If it were just me… I might argue about forcing you guys to babysit me, but I can’t put my dad in a situation where he might get hurt. I wouldn’t be able to live with that.”

“And we wouldn’t ever want anything to happen to you or to your dad,” Cora replied. “Derek was telling me some stories, this morning, about the summers he remembers when you guys would come over. He said he had completely forgotten about them, since he was young too, but after hearing your dad’s stories, he started to remember. I think that he’s blocked out a lot of memories about our family, but he seems to like having someone who links him back to our family, someone else who shares the same memories.”

Agie nods as they arrive at Cora’s homeroom, and instead of just saying bye like they normally do, she reaches out and pulls Cora into a long hug. After a few seconds, they both pull back and Cora walks into her homeroom classroom grinning. 

**

As the final bell rang signaling that they were finally free, Agie pulled out her phone and glanced at it. She had a few texts from Jason, and one from her dad saying, “on my way running a few min late sorry”, from just a few minutes ago. Agie shrugged and began walking out of school.

She answered Jason’s texts saying, “going to Venice w my dad tonight”.

Agie grinned when she saw Derek’s car in the parking lot, so she made a bee-line for it. Agie could smell Cora somewhere behind her, still inside school somewhere, but she was sure that Cora would meet her out by Derek’s car eventually. 

When Derek noticed Agie walking towards him, he grinned and got out of the car, “So what do you do when you’re just sitting around waiting for one of us?” Agie asked when she got close enough. She knew she could have probably asked Derek the question when she was still inside the school, but she wanted to try keeping up normal appearances. 

Instead of answering, Derek bent back into his car and pulled out a battered copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, “I used to read them religiously as a kid, but the fire happened the same summer that Deathly Hallows came out, so I never actually read it. I figured, since I have some free time now, I’d get back into it, so I started with Philosophers Stone and I’ve been working my way through the series.”

“That is absolutely adorable,” Agie responded as she leaned against Derek’s car. 

“Thanks. So you excited about this afternoon?”

“Yea. My dad and I haven’t spent time at the beach in a while. Probably almost a year. So it’ll be nice.”

Derek nods and turns to toss his book back onto the passenger seat of the car. “Agie, we never got around to asking, but what are your plans for this fall?”

“Well, I got accepted into UCLA and LMU, but I’m not really sure if I want to go to college if there’s an Alpha here that constantly wants to kill me. And I really can’t expect you guys to protect me forever. And I’m pretty sure one of the other options is to kill the Alpha, and I’m really not on board with that either. But I did apply to Simpson, up in Redding, as one of my safeties, so… maybe I could move up to Beacon Hills?”

Agie watched as a multitude of emotions spread across Derek’s face, and she wished she knew him well enough to categories all of them, but his face returned to his normal semi-stoic expression before she could safely catch anything, “I don’t want you to settle for a school just because this asshole bit you and changed your life.”

“I applied to Simpson because I liked the idea of being near Stiles. I never wanted to go far away, but since my dad isn’t here all the time, I figured the next best thing would be to go to college near family, and since Stiles and Uncle John are all that I have, that seemed like the best of all possible worlds. I chose that as an option because I thought it was something I could legitimately be happy with, not because I thought I might have to settle for it.”

Derek nods and looks up as Cora approaches and says, “In all honesty, that would be absolutely amazing if you went to Simpson. We could actually have our whole pack together.”

Derek still looks hesitant, but he replies, “I don’t want you to feel pressured into making any decisions you might regret. We might still be able to resolve this thing with the Alpha without any bloodshed.”

Agie nodded, “UCLA requires a deposit for the fall semester by the middle of June, so I’ll have to make a decision within the next month or so anyway.”

Derek nodded and was about to say something as Agie’s dad pulled up in his car. She grinned as he pushed his sunglasses up onto his forehead, “Hey Derek, hey Cora. Ags – you ready to hit the road?”

Agie nodded and tossed her backpack into the backseat and hopped over the door into the front seat. She had been so excited when he dad first let her jump into the Mustang when it had the top rolled down. 

Derek and Cora both say hi to Agie’s dad and he leans over and asks, “You guys look so serious, what were you all talking about?”

“I was just telling them that I had applied to Simpson up in Redding as well as UCLA and LMU,” Agie explains.

“And you got into all three!” Agie’s dad exclaims, “That’s good news. But why so serious?”

“We were just thinking about logistics,” Cora explains. “We think it would be so awesome if Agie moved up to Redding, since we were thinking about going back to Beacon Hills, but isn’t UCLA a better school?”

Agie’s dad shrugged, “That’s what I’ve been telling her ever since she sent out the applications. But she keeps saying she wants to be near family. And I drive up through Redding almost as much as I drive through LA, so I could visit her there as well. Plus, she’d have Stiles and John not far and could see them whenever she wanted.”

“Well, that does make sense,” Derek responded.

Agie’s father nods and waves, “Well, we’ll have to have you guys over sometime soon, but right now, I would like to head to the beach with my wonderful daughter.”

Agie grins and says, “Cora, I’ll text you later, and good luck with that project you’re working on.”

Cora grins and leans into Derek as he wraps his arm around his shoulder, “We’ll see you guys later. Enjoy the beach!”

Agie clicks her seatbelt into place as her dad begins driving out of the parking lot. She looks back at Derek and Cora as they begin to get into Derek’s car and she waves a goodbye, knowing that they won’t actually be far away from them at any point.

**

Agie and her father end up walking the boardwalk and talking and laughing for most of the afternoon. They stop for dinner at a Mexican/French fusion food cart. Cora texts a few times with mostly pointless, trivial updates just to entertain each other. Agie laughs when she gets a text from Cora saying “heads up. Dude in amazingly tacky neon orange zebra stripe leotard rollerblading towards u. not sure what decade he thinks he's in” just as Agie looks up and sees the man rollerblading by. Agie points him out to her dad and they both laugh at his appearance. Agie’s dad doesn’t mind her texting because he’s gotten used to it by this point. She also sends a few texts to Cheryl and Jason, just to keep them updated. She feels like she’s been neglecting them lately, but a part of her doesn’t mind so much because she’s finding that she prefers Cora and Derek’s company over her normal high school company. She shrugs and figures that she’ll find a way to balance things over the next few weeks. 

After Agie and her dad finish eating ice cream cones, she checks her phone and sees that it’s after nine, “Dad, as much as I don’t ever want to go home, it’s probably going to take us at least a half hour to get home, right? Do you want to head out now?”

Agie’s father checks the time also and sighs regretfully, “Unfortunately, I agree with you. Hopefully, this won’t be a long delivery, so I might be home by the weekend.”

“That’s great,” Agie replies, “I’m only working the Friday night shift, so I’m free pretty much the rest of the weekend. If you make it home in time, maybe we could see that new space movie that’s coming out?”

Agie’s father grins as he wraps his arm around her shoulders. Sci-fi movies had always been their thing, particularly since Jessica and Connie can’t stand them. It had been something they were both interested in, but became something that they bonded over in the time when Agie’s father was only home sometimes. “Sounds like a plan, sweetheart.”

As they started walking back to the car, the wind shifted and Agie would have sworn for a second that she could smell the Alpha. She tried to look everywhere to make sure the Alpha wasn’t around, but she didn’t want to attract her father’s attention, so she pulled out her phone and texted Cora quickly, “could’ve sworn I just smelled the alpha. Can’t see him tho. U guys ok?”

Cora quickly texted back, “smelled it too. Don’t see him either, but he could be in human form.” The first text was quickly followed by another, “Derek says just go home, don’t worry bc alpha wont attack here bc its 2 crowded.” 

Agie nodded and grimly looked around, “safety in #s right?”

Cora’s laugh drifted across the window to Agie’s ears and she felt immediately comforted. Agie glanced down as she received another text, but this time it was from Derek, “The Alpha has always masked his scent, so it’s possible that he lives around here and isn’t expecting to need to hide from us in his home territory. I’d like the three of us to come back here tomorrow to look for him.”

As they reached the car, Agie checked the surroundings again. She didn’t want the Alpha to sneak up on her at any point, particularly as they drove home. She texted back, “Sounds good. Y don’t u both sleep over again? I don’t want cora alone at home bc what if he goes after her?”

After just a minute or two, Derek responds, “Good idea. We’re going to stop home and get our own sleep wear, and we’ll meet you at your house soon.”

Agie turns to her dad as he drives, “About Simpson—you really don’t think I’m settling or anything, do you? It’s supposed to be a good school, and I think that living up by Stiles would be really nice.”

Agie’s dad glances over at her while he’s driving and responds, “I don’t think you’d be settling. I think it’s a great option. Obviously, UCLA has a great reputation, but I also know that you don’t want to just live at home forever, particularly since I’m not there all the time. I think you should go to whichever school you think offers you the best options—not just where it would be a nice place to live. Remember, it’s your college that you’re choosing, the place that can prepare you for your career and the rest of your life. You don’t have to choose where you’re going to live for the rest of your life when you’re 18.”

“Yea, but you and mom did,” Agie points out.

“Well, we just got lucky. We both loved it here in LA. But then again, we had also lived in Beacon Hills, so we had something to compare it to. I think it will be great for you to live someplace else for a while. Plus, if you hate it, you can always transfer to UCLA and move back home.”

“Actually, I like that plan. I want to have a fall-back plan, just in case things don’t work out.”

“That’s because you’re my smart girl. Always coming up with plans.”

***

When Agie got home, she opened her bedroom window and then went to hop in the shower. She made sure to bring a pair of pajamas so she could get dressed again before heading back to the room. As she brushed her teeth, she heard Derek and Cora quietly let themselves into her room. When she was all finished, she headed back and quietly asked, “Do you guys want to use the bathroom?”

Cora shook her head and replied, “We’re good. We got ready at home.”

Agie nodded and grinned, and the three of them got into the same positions as last night. 

Derek quietly said, “Agie, do you feel up for looking for the Alpha with us tomorrow?”

“Of course,” She replied, “The guy wants to kill me. And I’m very fond of staying alive. I’d like to at the very least understand why he bit me and regrets it, and then try to convince him to leave me alone. I don’t want to be in his pack, and honestly, I don’t want anything to do with him. So we can both just leave each other alone.”

Derek nods and replies, “I doubt he’d try to attack us in Venice, but I’m hoping that we can find him and force him to talk to us out in the open. Maybe once we explain that you already have an Alpha speaking for you, he’ll be content to leave you alone.”

“You don’t sound very sure of that.”

“I haven’t been that lucky lately, but I’m going to hope that your luck is much better than mine,” Derek replied. 

Agie grins and says, “Let’s hope.”


	13. Chapter 13

English class was the only class that Agie actually had with Jason, and it was normally something that she looked forward to. However, on Wednesday when Jason sat down next to her, instead of greeting her like normal, he whispered harshly, “Babe, I’m really horny. You have no plans after school, right? You can just come over, right?”

Agie shook her head in apology, “No, sorry, Jay. I already made plans to hang out with Cora after school.”

“So cancel.”

“Jason, I can’t do that.”

“Why the fuck not? I’m more important.”

“That’s not really how it works.”

“Well, why the fuck not?”

“Maybe because you’re tactic of ‘I’m horny sleep with me’ isn’t all that convincing.”

He sits back in his seat and asks in a normal voice, “Since when have you ever needed convincing to have sex with me?”

Agie winces as several people around them suddenly turn to look at the mention of sex. Agie leans towards Jason and quietly says, “Jay. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Maybe I don’t like that you’re suddenly spending all of your time with this new girl. And probably her brother too. Don’t think that Cheryl didn’t tell me you blew her off last week. How do I even know what you’re doing with the two of them?”

“What is that even supposed to mean?” Agie whispers harshly, looking up at the teacher to make sure that they’re not attracting too much attention. Luckily, the teacher is checking homeworks at the other end of the classroom. Agie tries to take a deep breath as she feels her heart begin to pound.

“You know what I mean. That Derek guy looks like one of those perv creepers. He probably has his sister make friends with people just so he can try to sleep with them.”

“You don’t know a single thing about Derek—how can you even say that?”

“Have you looked at him? And that stupid car he drives. What else can you expect me to think?”

“I expect you to trust that I wouldn’t cheat on you!”

“I would trust you if you spent more time with me!”

“It’s not trust if you only trust me when I’m with you! That’s literally the exact opposite of trust!” Agie whispers furiously at Jason as red begins to creep into the edges of her vision.

The English teacher finally approaches their row of seats and shushes them loudly. Agie leans back in her seat and crosses her arms in anger. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath again to try to calm herself down. She listens as Jason scrambles to find his homework in his binder, and without opening her eyes, Agie just pulls her homework out of her folder. She can’t even explain how she knows it’s the right paper—something about the way it feels or smells or something, but she feels confident about her choice. 

“Good job with the homework Agie. You doing okay?” 

Agie opens her eyes and looks up at the teacher, “Yea, thanks, can I just… go to the bathroom?” Agie is really hoping that the teacher is just being nice because she can sense Agie’s distress, but she’s afraid that the teacher might have overheard Jason’s last loud comment. She doesn’t really care all that much about what her teacher thinks about her, but at the same time, she doesn’t want people thinking she’s easy or a slut or anything. 

The teacher nods and points to the bathroom pass sitting on her desk, and then continues checking the rest of the homework. 

Agie rises from her seat and grabs the pass without looking at Jason. She stalks to the bathroom and as she opens the door sighs in relief when she sees Cora standing next to the sink. She doesn’t say anything, just opens her arms and envelops Agie into a hug. Agie wraps her arms around Cora’s waist and buries her nose in Cora’s neck. She instantly begins to feel the tension releasing from her body as the warmth of Cora’s arms replaces it. 

“What am I supposed to do?” Agie asks as she lifts her head and looks at Cora.

Cora shrugs and replies, “I really don’t know Jason enough to say much, but he just said some really dick-ish things.”

“He thinks I’m cheating on him!” Agie exclaimed, “With Derek!” 

Cora chuckled, “And he’s clearly wrong. But you have been spending a lot of time with us… he has to think something.”

“But this? He should just trust me – he thinks I’m cheating on him, and he doesn’t even know what I’m doing! He doesn’t know that I spend any time with Derek, honestly, he’s only ever seen him picking you up. As far as he knows, that could also be the only times I see Derek, but no! He has to assume that I’m off having sex with everybody because I’m some kind of slut!”

Cora just runs her hands up and down Agie’s arms, “If you want to just spend time with him after school, Derek can look for the Alpha in Venice by himself. I know he won’t mind.”

“No. I don’t want to talk to Jason again. After that scene he made in class, I’m done with him.”

“For real?”

Agie sighs, “God, I don’t know. Fuck. I’ve never broken up with anyone before. I don’t know. Maybe?”

“Well, think about it before you say anything. If I’ve learned anything about relationships, it’s that whenever you say something just because you’re angry, it never comes out the way it’s supposed to. Even if you do really want to break up with him, don’t do it when you’re angry.”

Agie nods and says, “I think I’m going to text Stiles. As much as he’s never had a real relationship, he always gives me good advice and makes me feel better.”

Cora nods, “I have to get back to class then. There’s only two more periods before we get to leave and have an afternoon filled with fun beach times and Alpha-hunting.”

Agie laughed for the first time and nodded. “Thanks, Cora. You know, we’ve only been friends for like, a week, but I already can’t really imagine life without you.”

“Me too,” Cora replied as she embraced Agie again. 

Agie pulls her cell phone out as Cora picks up the bathroom pass that she had placed on the sink ledge, “I’ll see you in just a little bit,” Cora says, “and remember: don’t say anything to him while you’re still pissed.”

Agie nods and smiles at Cora as she walks out, and then sends a text to Stiles, “So Jason thinks im cheating on him with Derek bc he’s a jealous asshole and he accused me of being a slut IN FRONT OF OUR WHOLE ENG. CLASS AND I WANTED TO KILL HIM but I didn’t aren’t u proud of me? but now I just want to break up w him bc I don’t want to deal w his bullshit but I don’t know what to do!” 

Agie figured she might as well use the bathroom since she’s been in here long enough, and as she flushes, she gets a reply text from Stiles. “What a fuckin asshole! U should dump his ass. Cept don’t wolf out. Dump him calmly.”

Agie laughed weakly as she texted back, “Your the best. so cora and Derek and me are going to look for the alpha today bc we caught his scent yesterday and we think we might be able to find him. Wish us luck!”

Agie tucked her phone back in her pocket and headed back to class. She managed to avoid Jason’s eyes throughout the rest of class, and when he tried to say something to her as the bell rang, she walked straight out of the classroom, even though Jason attempted to start apologizing to her.

The last period of the day Agie had gym with Cheryl again, and as she walked in she asked, “Please tell me you’re cool with walking the track today? Jason and I had this huge fight in English and I really just need to rant about it.”

Cheryl looked surprised but nodded and the two girls started walking. Before Agie started on the story, she glanced quickly at Cheryl, “I just want to apologize in advance for being a total flake lately and not being around, but how are you? Is everything okay in Cheryl-land?”

Cheryl grins and looks down at her feet, “Yea, it’s been normal. Nothing new, you know?”

Agie nods, and asks, “So, can I rant now?” Cheryl nods so Agie explains the whole thing that happened between her and Jason in class. She leaves out her conversation with Cora and with Stiles, and just asks, “So I’m not being crazy, right? Jason has literally only met Derek when he picks Cora up or drops her off at school, and I hardly ever see him when I hang out with Cora, except for the fact that you know, he lives with her, and I’m so not interested in Derek because he’s older and I’m pretty sure he’s gay and plus, I’m with Jason. Why would I want to hook up with anyone else?”

Cheryl just shrugs and slowly replies, “I mean, it definitely sounds like Jason was overreacting and what he said was totally not cool. But you have been spending a lot of time with Cora, and it’s not like she has parents to look after you guys to make sure nothing inappropriate is happening.”

“Yes – because her parents are dead! And Derek is her legal guardian and he’s the one who takes care of her! Besides, Jason has parents who are supposed to be making sure nothing inappropriate happens in their house, and that has never once stopped us from having sex! So he’s one to talk.” 

“I’m not really sure what you want me to say, Agie.”

“I want you to say that I’m not crazy!”

“Well, you’re not being crazy. I mean, you might be overreacting just a little—“

“I am not!” Agie practically shouted, and then suddenly fisted her hands when she saw that her nails were darkening towards claws. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and sent a silent prayer to Cora that she would be able to control the rest of the change. The last thing she needed was for Cheryl to see her wolf out—she hasn’t seen herself in shifted, but after seeing Scott, Isaac, Cora, and Derek change, with the glowing eyes and the hair and sideburns and pointy ears and everything—that was not something she could afford to do in the middle of school.

“Agie, just keep breathing,” Cora said, and Agie focused her hearing on the sound of Cora’s voice and her heartbeat. 

“Agie, hey, Agie, are you okay?” Cheryl asks while shaking Agie’s shoulder gently but persistently.

Agie took another deep breath and looked down at her perfectly normal, human fingernails. She sighed again and looked up at Cheryl. “You okay?” Cheryl repeats again.

“Yea, I’ve just… I don’t know, I must be PMSing or something, I’ve just been really emotional all day.” Agie replies weakly. She can hear Cora chuckling quietly in the distance. Cheryl nods her head, and then launches into a story about how moody she was a few weeks ago when she got her last period. Agie is glad to have a distraction from all of the drama so she nods and laughs along as Cheryl talks.

At the end of gym class, Agie hugs Cheryl and says, “Thanks for listening to me. I’ll figure everything out. And do you want to hang out some night this week?”

Cheryl replies, “Of course! I have work tomorrow and Thursday nights though, so how about Friday?”

“Shoot. I’m working on Friday night,” Agie replies. “What about Saturday?”

“That should work for me” Cheryl replies, “I’m free all day.”

“Perfect. Maybe we’ll watch a movie and hang out at the mall?”

“Sounds great.”

The two friends part ways when they get close to the lockers, and Agie shoves most of her things in the locker and only grabs out the few books she’ll need for her homework tonight, if she even gets a chance to do any. She rushes out of school to ensure that she doesn’t have to speak with Jason, and sighs when she sees Cora already waiting for her at Derek’s car.

“Since you drove anyway, I figured you could drive home and we’d meet you there. I also don’t know if you want Jason seeing you leave with us, just in case that causes even more drama,” Cora says.

Agie shrugs, “Fuck him anyway. But yea, that’s a good idea about taking my car home first.”

Derek just looks between the two girls, but doesn’t inquire about anything. Cora shrugs her head towards Derek with a questioning look on her face. “Yea, you can explain it all,” Agie offers and Cora nods in response. They all get in their cars and drive out of the parking lot.

When Agie gets home, she doesn’t even go into the house, just hops directly into Derek’s car. The back seat is small, but after Cora moves her seat almost all the way forward, Agie has enough room to adjust her legs. 

Agie leans back and grins; she finds that she can’t help herself. The idea of spending the entire afternoon with Derek and Cora is pleasant, even if they’re purpose isn’t all that pleasant. 

Cora twists in her seat so she can look back at Agie, “So what music do you want to listen to? Derek has mostly classic rock and punk cds, but I can hook my phone up and play Spotify.”

Agie shrugs, “I don’t know. Whatever you normally listen to.”

Cora nods and plays with her phone for a few minutes before music starts playing through the speakers. Agie closes her eyes and inhales, and tries to focus on the unique scents that always surround Derek and Cora. She picks out hints of what must be Derek’s body wash and leather and hair mousse. Agie hasn’t seen Derek wearing a leather jacket in LA, but Stiles had mentioned that he was practically inseparable from his jacket while up in Beacon Hills. Agie just assumed that he didn’t wear it in the warmer weather they had down here, but the smell still lingered on him. Cora smelled like lavender shampoo and caramel and just a little bit of the burgers they had for lunch that day. 

Agie opened her eyes just in time to notice Derek glancing back at her in the rearview mirror, “Cora told me about Jason,” he said neutrally, “and I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault at all. He was just being a jerk.”

“A lot of times… it’s hard to maintain relationships with humans. Particularly if they don’t know our secret. And it’s not like we can go around telling everybody. That makes it hard.”

“So I can’t tell anyone that I’m a werewolf… ever?”

“No, of course you can. You just have to be one hundred percent sure that you can trust that person. And that they’ll love you even after they find out.”

“Great. One hundred percent sure. That should be easy to find.”

Derek laughs, “I never said it would be easy. But… a lot of werewolves find it easier to just date other werewolves, even with the limited options. Many times packs will have alliances or at least be friendly, and the young people get to know each other. Right now, Scott and Stiles are rebuilding some of the alliances that my family had with the other packs in Northern Cali. That’s another thing that I plan to do when we get back to Beacon Hills.”

“Okay, so the dating pool is not microscopic… just limited?” Agie asks.

Cora nods and replies, “Or if you find a human that you’re sure of, you can tell them, and they will have the option to stay human or get bitten.”

“Really?” Agie asks in surprise. She knows that Derek had bitten a few other people when he was Alpha, but her only direct experience with Alphas was the asshole that had bitten her. She wasn’t really sure what the normal protocol for biting people was.

“Yes,” Derek answers, “you’d have to talk it over with Scott, of course, and the rest of the pack. Even if you’re completely in love with the person, the pack still has to accept them as well. That rule is in place to protect both the pack and the person who wants to offer the bite—just to ensure that the pack is choosing someone who is truly compatible, not someone who may have blinded you with infatuation or something like that. And the person always has a choice, no matter what. If they want to stay human, everyone accepts the choice.”

“Like Stiles,” Cora points out. “I’m pretty sure he’s been offered the bite from three different Alphas, and he’s turned it down every time.”

“He turned you down, Derek?” Agie asks.

“No. I never offered it to him. He explained to me, even before I was an Alpha, that he didn’t want to be a werewolf. And I respect his decision.”

“Oh. Why doesn’t he want to be a werewolf? I mean, so far it seems pretty awesome to me.”

Cora laughs as she replies, “Well, so far you’ve turned out to be a pretty awesome werewolf. Ask Scott about how he was the first few weeks—Stiles has told me about how out of control he was. But you also haven’t gone through the full moon yet. That’s tough. Even for born werewolves. It’s almost impossible to stay in control unless you’ve found your anchor.”

“And what’s that?” Agie asks as she leans forward.

“An anchor is actually exactly what it sounds like – it’s what you use to tie yourself to your humanity so that you can stay in control of the wolf. If you don’t anchor yourself, the wolf will take over completely, and it’s extremely difficult to get it back under control once that has happened, until the full moon sets.”

“Well, shit. How do I get an anchor? What’s a good anchor?”

“For a long time,” Derek replies, glancing at Agie in the rearview mirror, “my anchor was my anger. It was the strongest emotion that I felt and I used the anger I felt to keep me attached and rooted to my humanity.”

“And my anchor is my memory of our family at Christmas. It’s the memory of us all being together and being happy. That’s what I use to keep myself in control,” Cora contributes. 

“Okay, so… I need some emotion or memory that is stronger than the wolf?”

“Yes. It has to be the strongest thing that you feel, otherwise it won’t work.”

“But what about when I start to lose control now? All I have to do is breath and concentrate and I can get myself under control again.”

“But now, when it’s not the full moon, the wolf isn’t as strong,” Cora points out. “It’s easier for you to gain control and stay completely human now because the moon is weak. When the moon is full though, or almost full, it’s going to get even harder. But you’ll see. The new moon is this Saturday, so we’ll be at our weakest point of the month, but then each night, as the moon grows, you’ll feel the pull of the wolf more and more.”

Agie sighs and leans back onto her seat. She inhales and realizes that the scent of the leather seats is different from the scent of leather on Derek. She’ll have to ask about that sometime. She looks out the window and realizes that they’re almost at their destination, so she quickly asks, “So, guys, is there anything that I need to know before we go looking for the Alpha?”

Derek hesitates before answering, but Cora looks to him as if deferring to him, so he finally responds, “The Alpha can hide his scent, which is why I had such a hard time tracking him. He can also… compel you to do what he wants. He can try it with Cora and I, but since we’re not his Betas, it won’t work as well. Since he bit you, and since you don’t have full control yet, you are more susceptible. So… if anyone tells you to do anything, try to resist him, even if it seems innocent enough. Once you start following the Alpha’s commands, it becomes even harder to resist them. We really don’t know anything about this Alpha yet, but you’ll see, when we are in Beacon Hills, Scott doesn’t make many demands, a good Alpha doesn’t, because their betas are compelled to obey them, and it creates an unfair dynamic. In a good pack, the betas want to do what their Alpha asks because they trust each other.”

“All right. So, don’t listen to strangers and I should probably try to stick close to you guys, right?”

“Definitely,” Cora responds as Derek parks the car.

Derek turns back and faces Agie, “Ready to head out?”

Agie nods and waits as Cora gets out first and pulls her seat forward so Agie can get out too. Derek walks around the car and stands between Agie and Cora, “So, are we ready to go?”

Agie nods and slips her arm around Derek’s waist, “Where do we start?”

Derek wraps his arms around Agie’s and Cora’s shoulders and replies, “We caught the scent over towards this end as we were leaving yesterday, so I figured this is the best place to start looking.”

“Plus, I saw a place that sells corndogs just a little further up, and I could definitely go for one of those for a snack,” Cora adds as she wraps her arm around Derek’s waist. The three of them start walking towards the boardwalk and Agie hopes that everything goes well with the Alpha, because she’s really enjoying her relationship with Cora and Derek.


	14. Chapter 14

After about an hour of walking around, and corndogs for each of them, Derek suddenly stopped walking. Cora and Agie each took a step past him, but immediately turned back to see what had caused him to stop. 

“Look,” Derek said quietly, “I mean smell that –it’s the Alpha.”

Agie and Cora both lifted their noses slightly and inhaled, and Cora realized that Derek was right, there was just a hint of the Alpha floating on the soft ocean breeze. “So… where is he? Can we, like, track him?” Agie asked.

“I’m pretty sure it’s coming from that way,” Derek said, nodding his head towards a line of restaurants along the boardwalk, “but it’s a little hard to tell. The Alpha must live or work around here, because his scent isn’t localized—it’s spread out across the area.”

Agie nodded and followed Derek as he began walking towards the restaurants. As they approached an Italian restaurant that boasted about its seafood dishes in the windows, Agie realized that the scent was growing stronger the closer they got. As they reached the door, Cora leaned forward and opened it so that Derek could enter first. The restaurant was mostly empty since it was still a little too early for dinner, but there were a few people sitting near the windows. The three of them walked towards the back section, and as they walked, a man emerged from the kitchens and stared at them. Agie inhaled and realized that he was the Alpha. She tried to see if she felt anything towards him, but she didn’t. He just looked like a middle-aged man with grey hair at his temples. 

The man stared at them without blinking or saying a word for a few seconds, and then another man followed after him and stopped directly next to him and stared each of them closely. After staring at Cora, Derek, and then finally Agie, he turned to the Alpha and softly demanded, “David, not again! Tell me you did not bite another one!”

The Alpha, David, quickly turned to the man beside him and softly replied, “I wasn’t sure I had!” before moving towards Derek, Cora, and Agie, “You know, it’s traditional for the Alpha of the pack to speak with another Alpha about representing an Omega.”

Derek crossed his arms and replied, “I wasn’t sure that you were aware of the traditions, after you bit a human that another pack had claim on.” 

The man besides the Alpha stepped forward, “I’m sure he didn’t realize that the girl was spoken for. My name is Alex, and this is David. We own this restaurant together.”

“Regardless of whether or not he knew, is it the practice of your pack to go around attacking girls in the night and biting them without their consent?”

The Alpha squinted his eyes before Alex, his partner replied, “I’m sure that wasn’t his intention. Again, we apologize for the inconvenience it has caused to your pack.”

The Alpha, David, stepped forwards and repeated himself, “It is traditional to speak with the Alpha, not one of his Betas. You… hold yourself like an Alpha, but you aren’t one. Explain yourself.”

Agie watched as Derek visibly bristled at the Alpha’s tone, but he replied, “I was an Alpha, but I sacrificed my power to heal my sister,” as he gestures towards Cora. 

The Alpha crossed his arms over his chest and remained silent as Alex said, “It is rare to meet someone who was once an Alpha. Would you tell us of your current Alpha?”

“He should have come to speak with me, instead of sending you,” David said harshly. 

Agie opened her mouth to say something but she caught Cora gently shaking her head out of the corner of her eye and decided to hold her tongue. The Alpha was pissing her off, but maybe it was better that he was currently ignoring her. She really didn’t like the sound of being forced to do things, and didn’t want to test her resolve when put to a test like that. 

“He does not currently live in LA,” Derek explained. 

“But you do?” Alex asked.

Derek gestured at Cora and Agie, “They’re both currently go to high school in LA. We didn’t realize there was a pack here with… territorial issues. We were planning on leaving in June after the school year ends.”

Alex shrugged and said, “That sounds very reasonable.”

“I’m not sure how we can take the word of three Omegas,” David said with a shrug.

“Why the fuck are you fighting this?” Alex whispered fiercely as he leaned towards David. 

Agie pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed Scott’s number. He picked up the phone and said, “Hey Agie, what’s up?”

David and Alex both turned towards Agie as if they were listening. Agie plastered a fake grin on her face and cheerfully said, “Hey Scott, we’re just talking to the other Alpha, and I figured, if you had a minute, that you could talk to him too.”

“Yea, of course Ags, no problem,” Scott replied, although he sounded concerned.

Agie held her phone out towards David, but didn’t take a step towards him. 

Alex looked between them, and after David shrugged, he took a few steps forward and took Agie’s phone from her and brought it back to David. Agie noticed that he was careful not to touch her skin at any point while taking the phone from her. 

David held the phone up to his ear, and said, “Hello. My name is David. I’m the Alpha of the LA pack.”

“Hi David, I’m Scott McCall. I’m the Alpha of the Beacon Hills Hale-McCall pack. I heard that you bit a very close friend of mine.” Agie was grateful for the werewolf hearing, because she could clearly make out everything that Scott said.

David closed his eyes for a few seconds before replying through gritted teeth, “It was an error on my part.”

“Everyone makes mistakes,” Scott conceded, “but Agie has family ties to my pack and she has expressed the desire to be part of our pack. I trust there will be no problems with that?”

“Your… beta, Derek, has explained that the three of them plan on leaving LA in June. So long as they stick to that plan… they will be left alone.”

“I trust Derek implicitly,” Scott said. “And I would appreciate it if you would too.”

“I will honor your request,” David replied stiffly. 

“Well then, it was very nice to meet you,” Scott said genially, “even if it was only over the phone.”

“And you as well.”

David held out the phone and Alex took it and handed it back to Agie. She noticed that Scott was still on the line, so she held it up to her ear, “Agie, Stiles says that he wants to talk later, so give him a call whenever you get a chance, okay?”

“No problemo, Scott.” Agie replied with a genuine grin on her face. She glances over at Derek as he nods and Cora shrugs, so Agie says, “Thanks Scott, I’ll talk to you later.”  
“All right, take care Agie,” Scott replies and Agie hangs up the phone and tucks it back in her pocket. 

Derek turns back to David and asks, “So, are well all good then?”

“For now. But I still want to discuss a few more things. Unfortunately, this is neither the time nor the place. Our dinner rush is about to begin and we still have a few things we need to prepare, so I would appreciate it if you would leave. Why don’t we meet on, say, Saturday? That way we can take the girls’ school schedule into account?”

“Where and when would you like to meet?”

“How about the Santa Monica Park? Around nine?”

Derek glanced over towards Agie, “That’s a national park just north or here,” she offered, “near Malibu.”

Derek looks back to David and nods again. “And who will we be meeting with?”

“Just myself and Alex. Possibly a third member of my pack. But that’s it.”

“All right fine.”

“There’s an old path just off of 27. Take Fernwood south and you’ll be able to find it. We can meet there.”

“At nine pm.” Derek confirms and turns to walk out. Agie and Cora follow him towards the door, and he holds it for them so that he can be the last one to exit the restaurant. 

As the door closes behind them, Agie hears Alex whisper, “Seriously, David. How could you bite another girl? Your wife will have a fit when she finds out!”

“And that’s why she won’t ever find out,” David replied hoarsely. “I’ve taken care of all of the previous mistakes, and I will take care of this one also. It doesn’t matter that she’s found herself some ragtag group of kids that she thinks will be able to protect her.”

Agie is about to turn around and run back into the restaurant, but Derek grabs at her arm just above the elbow and practically drags her away from the restaurant. When she’s about to open her mouth, Cora pushes in on her other side and just shakes her head at Agie. Cora points to her ears and then back at the restaurant, and Agie figures that if they can hear the Alpha talking inside the restaurant, that he could probably hear them talking outside it. 

After they walk a block of two, Derek lets go of Agie’s arm and they continue walking. They get into Derek’s car and Derek quietly says, “We’ll wait until we get home to talk, all right?”

Agie and Cora murmur agreements and Cora reaches over to play with the radio as they’re driving. About twenty minutes later, Derek parks the car in front of his and Cora’s apartment building and they walk up the stairs together. Once they close the door and lock it, Derek turns around and says, “We need to call Scott and Stiles. Or maybe we should just facetime them. It might be easier that way.”

Cora walks into what Agie presumes is her bedroom and returns a few seconds later with a macbook, which she sets up on the coffee table. The three of them have a seat on the couch as Cora pulls facetime up and calls Stiles. He answers almost immediately, and Agie is relieved but not at all surprised to see Stiles and Scott sitting side by side. Isaac is sitting next to Scott and a brunette girl is sitting besides Stiles. 

“Oh thank god, you’re all alive. That was by far the weirdest and most tense conversation I have ever overheard,” Stiles says in a rush.

Scott leans towards the computer and observes, “None of you look injured at all. The Alpha really just spoke with you?”

Derek nods and is about to open his mouth to reply when Cora beats him to the punch, “Yes. But he was super sketchy, and so was his friend. And Agie, this Allison. You haven’t met her yet, but remember we told you about her?”

"Nice hunter, right?" Agie asks and Allison grins ruefully and waves. 

Stiles says, “What do you mean sketchy? Describe it to me—paint me a word picture!”

“Well, he owned an Italian restaurant with the Beta, Alex, that was with him. Alex actually did most of the talking. He seemed like a relatively reasonable guy, even though he was trying to make up for the Alpha’s weirdness. I don’t know… David, the Alpha, he was just weird. Hostile and defensive and dismissive all at the same time,” Agie shrugged as she finished. She wasn’t quite sure how to describe the weird vibe that she had gotten from David.

“But he agreed to leave you guys alone so long as you leave LA soon, right?” Stiles asked.

“He did,” Derek replied, “But then as we were leaving he said that he had taken care of all of his other mistakes, and that he would take care of Agie too.”

“What other mistakes?” Isaac wondered.

Derek shrugs but Stiles suddenly flailed his arms and launched himself backwards and then out of the range of the camera. Scott, Isaac and Allison watch as Stiles does something off screen and Agie leans forward and asks, “That looks like he just had an idea—what’s he doing now?”

Scott and Isaac shrug, but Allison replies, “He’s at his research wall. He’s been trying to figure out who the Alpha was—we didn’t like his comment about you being the wrong girl again, so Stiles has been going through old crime reports and things like that from LA for the past couple of decades. I’m… I’m not sure what he’s doing now though.” She raises her voice slightly and asks, “Stiles? What’s going on over there?”

Agie hears Stiles mumbling through the video, but he doesn’t reply to anything. Allison looks back at them and shrugs. “Can you turn the screen so we can see?” Agie asks.

Scott reaches forward and turns the computer until he the camera isn’t looking at the three of them anymore but is facing Stiles as he looks at a giant wall covered by scraps of paper. 

“Stiles, buddy. Can you talk a little louder so that the rest of us can understand you?” Scott asks.

Stiles doesn’t turn around, but he raises his voice as he continues to stare at the wall, “I’ve been tracing things like animal attacks and deaths of teenage girls caused by animal attacks or other mysterious causes like that and trying to find any links between them. There’s been a frighteningly high number of deaths in LA in the past three decades. I didn’t realize that LA was such a dangerous city. So, I haven’t been able to really find any similarities, but I think I was being too stupid. I’m pretty sure it was all just staring me in the face. I was looking for a direct link—like, a common cause of death for all of them. But, if the Alpha has been killing these girls off in different ways, then it would be almost impossible to tell which deaths have actually been caused by him. Particularly if he’s not only attacking the girls in his Alpha form. Remember when he cut your brake lines? He could be doing anything. Shooting them, poisoning them, tampering with their cars,” Stiles lists off each cause of death as he points at the face of a girl.

“Stiles, do each of those girls have long brown hair and blue eyes?” Agie says as she leans forward and squints at the screen. Agie’s vision might be greatly enhanced, but the quality of the video call isn’t all that great and Agie can’t be sure how clearly she’s seeing the pictures.

Stiles turns back to the computer as he slowly replies, “Yes.”

“Like me,” Agie observes.

Stiles’ mouth hangs open for a few seconds before he flails towards the dresser at the corner of his wall. He rifles through a stack of papers there and pulls out a few more papers. He quickly looks through them and then looks at the wall again, “There have been 14 reported deaths over the past 20 years of girls aged 16-20 who all have brown hair and blue eyes. They’ve all died of different causes, which is why I didn’t pick up on the pattern, and neither did the police. Shit, Agie. They all look like you. The Alpha has been biting and then killing girls that look just like you for at least 20 years now.”

Stiles looks up at Agie as he finishes talking and everyone is silent for a moment after Stiles finishes talking. Finally Cora breaks the silence with a quiet, “Fuck.”

Agie laughs weakly and drops her face into her hands, “Okay. So it’s pretty safe to assume that when he was asking us to meet him at night in the woods on Saturday, he’s just going to try to kill me?”

“Probably,” Scott says quietly, “So don’t go.”

“And just sit at home and wait for him to try to kill me? He found me at work, so he almost definitely knows where I live too.”

“You can stay here,” Cora offers.

“What, and just move in until we convince the Alpha to stop trying to kill me?”

Derek shrugs and says, “If that’s what it takes to keep you safe.”

Scott looks up from his cell phone, “All right guys, I just texted with my mom and explained what’s happening. I’m coming down there. My mom is going to cover for me and say I have the flu. I’m not letting another crazy Alpha take someone away from our pack.” Agie had never seen that look of hard determination in Scott’s eyes before, but she had to admit it was impressive.

“Are you sure, Scott?” Derek asks, “Will the territory be safe without you?”

“We haven’t had any big problems in the last few weeks, after we got rid of the sprites. But between Isaac, Stiles, Allison, Lydia and Mr. Argent, well, they should be able to handle everything.”

Derek nods and Cora answers, “Scott, we might be able to handle it without you, but having you here would definitely help to make things go smoother.”

“Well, it’s settled then,” Scott replies.

“Dude, do you have to go by yourself?” Stiles asks.

“I really think I do. As much confidence as I have in your ability to handle the territory, it really hasn’t been stable ever since the nemeton. We have a hard enough time keeping everything under control as it is—I don’t want to take too many people with me because that would weaken our presence here.”

“What if you stayed here and Isaac and I go to LA?” Allison asks.

Scott shakes his head, “It sounds like this Alpha won’t respect anyone expect another Alpha. And it’ll be hard enough for me to convince him that I’m a legitimate Alpha since I’m so young.”

Cora looks at the clock on her phone, “Scott, at least get a good night’s sleep tonight, that way you don’t pass out and kill yourself on the drive down.”

Scott grins sheepishly, “I only fell asleep while driving once, Cora. And I woke up before I hit anything.”

“Yea, well, you were only doing 30 in Beacon Hills when that happened,” Stiles points out. “What if you fall asleep while you’re doing 70 on the freeway?”

“Fine. I’ll leave in the morning. Okay?”

Everyone nods. It doesn’t seem like it’s a great answer, but it also seems to be one of the only options that they have. Agie thinks back to what Derek had said about Alphas being able to order their Betas around, and to how David had seemed so arrogant and has to grin when she looks at how Scott acts as the Alpha. He doesn’t seem much different than normal Scott, and Agie likes that he listens to the advice of his Betas, and that they all feel comfortable teasing him about something he had done in the past. Agie also appreciates that Scott explained his thinking instead of just commanding everyone to listen to him once he had made his decision. He didn’t have to explain himself, but he did anyway, just so that everyone would feel comfortable with the plan. Agie felt bad that Scott had to up and leave school and everything just so that he could come down to LA to help her out, but she was grateful that she had people who were willing to do things like that to help her out. 

“I’m going to head home so I can pack and talk to my mom before I go to sleep. I promise I’ll keep in contact with everyone the whole time, all right?” Scott asks as he rises from his seat.

Stiles punches Scott lightly in the arm, “Hey buddy, take care of my cousin, okay?”

“Of course,” Scott replies and grins down at everyone. He leans over and kisses Allison before leaving. 

Stiles looks back at the screen and says, “Scott probably won’t be there until tomorrow night. Do you think you guys can stay out of trouble until then?”

“Stiles, we’ve been fine the whole time, we can stay safe until Scott gets here,” Derek replies with a slight scowl. Agie looks over at him and notices that his eyebrows are pulled together, but that his mouth almost looks like it wants to grin. It’s almost like Derek isn’t quite sure which emotion he wants to direct towards Stiles.

“Sure, except I seem to remember a story about Agie’s brakes being cut and you having it out with an Alpha and getting your ass beat,” Stiles points out. 

“I wasn’t prepared for that,” Derek practically growls, “And I was totally fine.”

“Yea, but only because Cora and Agie were there to help you out!” Stiles is practically shouting at Derek by the end of the sentence.

“That’s what pack is for—to protect each other,” Cora interrupts the building argument between Derek and Stiles. “That’s what we all do for each other.”

Stiles crosses his arms and Derek just leans back on the couch. Finally, Stiles says, “Well, if there’s anyone I trust more than myself to save your ass, it’s Cora and Agie. So you’re in good hands.”

Derek just grunts, so Agie turns back to the screen, “So, guys, how has lacrosse been going this season?”

Isaac ducks his head as he grins and Stiles shakes off his mood and launches into a description of how their games have been going. Apparently, Stiles has finally made first line, and since Jackson has left, Isaac has been getting a lot more playing time as well. Their coach keeps complaining about all of these players who had been hiding their skills from him, but they’ve been winning almost every game, so his complaints have been mostly directed at the air. Stiles thinks that he just likes to talk. 

“So Stiles, the last time I asked you, you said you were just so-so at lacrosse. How did you make first line?” Agie asks.

“Well, apparently practicing with two werewolves non-stop helps to improve my skills. Since I play with two super-human dudes all the time, when I’m faced with plain old humans like myself, it’s like playing a bunch of grannies.” 

Stiles laughs as he talks and Isaac gently bumps into his shoulder, “You really are getting a lot better, Stiles.”

“Are you using any of your training time to practice actual skills, or do you just play games together?” Derek asks from his position leaning against the couch.

Stiles’ grin instantly turns to a scowl, “Sour wolf, shut up.”

“They do train, a lot,” Allison points out, “And I’ve been teaching Stiles how to fight too. He’s pretty decent at the bow, and he can beat me half the time when we fight with knives. And his aim with a gun is impressive.”

“And all of the lacrosse practice with Scott and me is building all of our stamina and reflexes,” Isaac points out quietly.

“Yea, Derek, you might not even recognize me when I get back. I’m like a ballerina and Thor all rolled into one," Stiles laughed.

Derek rolls his eyes, but Agie can see the hint of a grin on his lips, “Well, then, it sounds like you guys have been making progress the past few months.”

They spend the next half hour or so talking about things up at Beacon Hills, and Stiles explains a little bit about the nemeton, since she had no idea what Scott was talking about when he first mentioned it. At one point, Derek got up and said, “I’m going to go shower,” and walked out of the living room.

The conversation continued and Cora and Agie described their lives in LA and all of the things that happened at school, and about the family dinner that Derek and Cora had come to. Eventually, Agie remembered that she had been meaning to tell Stiles about college, “Oh, so, Stiles, I talked to my dad, and I’m pretty sure that I want to go to Simpson in the fall, and actually, even more so since apparently the werewolves in LA don’t like me very much.”

Stiles practically fell out of his chair, “Simpson? Seriously? Agie that would be amazing! You could even live here with us if you want!”

“I know! Wouldn’t that be so cool? It would be like the summers we used to spend together, but all the time!”

“Plus, we want to move back to Beacon Hills,” Cora says, “so this would be perfect, having us all there together.”

“Cora, I can’t wait for you guys to come back,” Stiles says, “the house is looking so amazing. I can’t wait to see Derek’s face when he first sees it.”

“I know,” Cora replies quietly.

Derek comes out of the bathroom wearing sweatpants and a tank top. “Girls, you should probably go to sleep soon,” he says while rubbing his hair with a towel.

Both girls look up and nod and Stiles quietly groans. Isaac looks over at Stiles questioningly, and Stiles says, “I just remembered that huge lab that’s due tomorrow- I barely even started it.”

“Well, I’ll head home then,” Allison offers, and Isaac nods.

“I have some work to do before I go to sleep too,” Isaac adds. 

They each say goodnight and Agie and Stiles say “I love you” before they end the call and close the laptop. Agie pulls her phone out as she hears her text alert go off, “plz tell me he wasn’t just in a towel” Stiles had written. Agie practically laughs out loud, but instead she texts back, “sweatpants nd a tank top. U stalker.”

“Agie, do you want to let your step-mom know you’ll be sleeping here?” Cora asks.

Agie shakes her head, “She probably won’t even notice that I’m not there. But I’ll let my dad know.” She texts her dad quickly, “Hey dad. Sleeping over coras house. We did all our hw, ate a nutritious dinner, and were going to sleep on time. And Derek is going to drive us to school in the morning. Luv u.”

Cora gets Agie a spare toothbrush and says, “I’m going to go grab you some pjs,” as she walks off towards her bedroom again.

As Agie is brushing her teeth, she gets a reply text from Stiles and here dad. Stiles wrote “pls don’t tell him. I am such a stalker. god I'm just hopeless” and her dad wrote, “sleepover on a school night? I trust you Ags. Just be good.” Agie laughs at the two responses and writes back to Stiles, “won’t tell him. but I don’t think its that hopeless” and then “I promise dad” as she heads towards Cora’s room. Agie changes as Cora heads to the bathroom and the two girls get into Cora’s bed. Agie checks her alarm just to be sure, and as she rolls over she asks Cora, “Is it weird that it feels weird to not have Derek in here too?”

Cora shrugs and replies, “In wolf packs, the whole pack sleeps together. It’s a comfort and safety thing. We just find ways to incorporate it into our lives. It would get weird sometimes if our whole pack always slept together, but other times it’s just nice to have the companionship.”

Agie nods and wonders what Derek is doing—and she thinks back to what Cora had said when she first saw their apartment about them liking it so much because the rooms were mostly sound-proofed. She figured sometimes everyone wanted privacy, no matter how close they might be as pack.


	15. Chapter 15

Agie woke up and saw that she had four text messages from Stiles, “wait what?”, “agie what??”, “Agie wake up rt now and tell me what do u mean not that hopeless????”, and then finally followed by, “ur officially my least favorite cousin how could u say something like that nd then just go to sleep?????”. Agie laughed as Cora rolled out of bed and headed towards the bathroom. 

She texted back, “You’re hilarious stiles. I'm just saying I don’t think that it’s a one way street”. 

When Cora got back from the bathroom, Agie headed there and laughed at Derek as she slipped in just before him. She heard him grumbling something about “teenage girls” as he walked back down the hallway. When Agie got back to Cora’s room, Cora said, “I grabbed some clothes if you want to wear them,” as she walked out of the room.

Agie ended up wearing some of Cora’s clothes, but kept her jeans and bra. She smelled the shirt as she pulled it over her head, it smelled like Cora now, but Agie wondered what it would smell like by the end of the day. As Agie walked into the kitchen, she got another text from Stiles, “WAIT R U SAYING THAT DEREK LIKES ME??!?” Agie grins as she types back, “not sure. But I think so”. 

Derek doesn’t say anything, but just pushes a bowl and a spoon towards Agie. She reaches for the box of cereal on the island and takes a seat on one of the stools next to Cora. The three of them eat breakfast quietly and as they were finishing up, Derek said, “I’m going in to the bookstore today, and it’s only about a mile away from school. I don’t think the Alpha will do anything today…I expect him to wait until Saturday, but just in case, call me and I’ll be there in a minute.”

Derek drives them to school and promises to be back when they get out, “I figured we could study and do homework at Agie’s tonight,” Cora says.

“And Derek, you can come over too and I’ll cook dinner for us,” Agie offers.

Derek smiles and says, “That actually sounds great.”

The two girls wave as they get out of the car and start walking towards the car. Agie’s head turns suddenly as she smells Jason, and she watches as he walks towards her from the side of the school. Agie had completely forgotten about the fight they had yesterday, but she was still hoping to be able to talk to Jason today.

Jason’s looked furious as he walked up to Agie and asked, “Did you just get out of that guy’s car? Did you stay over his place last night?” 

Before replying, Agie took in a deep breath to try to calm herself, but she opened her eyes and instead of answering Jason’s question asked, “Why do you smell like Cheryl?”

Jason’s eyes opened wide and Cora suddenly began walking towards the side of the school where Jason had emerged from. Cora comes back a few seconds later pulling Cheryl by the arm. “And that’s not the first time you’ve smelled like Cheryl.” Agie continues, “She has a very distinctive perfume. But it really only transfers to another person through touch. So my question for you, Jason, is what were you doing touching Cheryl on the side of the building this early in the morning?”

Cheryl refuses to make eye contact with Agie as Cora drags her over to them but she quietly insists, “Agie, I swear, it’s not what it looks like!” 

“It looks like my jealous asshole of a boyfriend was cheating on me with my best friend. Explain to me what was really happening though,” Agie said as she crossed her arms, “I’m all ears.”

Jason finally recovered from his speechlessness and practically shouted, “I can’t believe that you’re accusing me of cheating! You’re the one who’s cheating!”

“Except that I’m not,” Agie pointed out, “and anyone with eyes would be able to see that. Cora and Derek are old family friends. That’s it.”

“And I’m really supposed to believe that?” Jason asked loudly.

“Yes. You are. Because you’re supposed to trust me and because I’ve given you absolutely no proof that I’ve been anything other than faithful to you. Just because you saw Cora and I getting out of Derek’s car means nothing. All it proves is that he drove us to school. And I know that you would normally trust me. You’re only trying to make me feel guilty and defensive so that I don’t pay attention to the fact that you’re the one who is actually cheating on me!”

“No, Agie, it’s not like that,” Cheryl begins to say.

Agie turns on her, “Tell me. Honestly. Right now. If we were ever truly friends, you owe me that much. Were you or were you not just making out with Jason?”

Cheryl’s faces blushes a bright red and she looks down at her feet again.

“And that’s all of the confession that I need,” Agie says harshly. She turns back to Jason, “You can consider yourself officially dumped.”

“But you’re still not sure that I’ve done anything wrong,” Jason says as he reaches out and grabs Agie’s arm as she goes to walk past him. “You can’t just dump me!”

Agie looks down slowly at his hand and for the first time since their argument started feels herself beginning to lose control. Agie doesn’t want to run away from this though—she refuses to look weak right now, so she concentrates on keeping her features all normal, and channels all of her rage into her eyes. She opens her eyes and the way Jason and Cheryl flinch and Cora’s eyes widen, Agie feels that she successfully managed to keep everything human except her eyes. She carefully and quietly enunciates, “Do not ever touch me again. I have all of the proof that I need to believe that you cheated on me. And even if I didn’t, I can break up with you whenever I want to. Now, leave. And do not ever speak to me again.”

Jason quickly lets go of her arm and both he and Cheryl practically run away. Agie closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, willing them to go back to normal. She opens her eyes and looks over at Cora and shrugs. Cora laughs quietly and says, “That was one of the most bad-ass things I have ever seen. And I had no idea you could control the shift that well!”

“God, I wasn’t even sure I could do it either,” Agie laughs, “but hell if I was going to let him see me looking weak after all of that.”

Cora laughs and links her arms with Agie and the two of them walk into school together.

**

Derek is scowling as he waits for the two of them and once they get close enough he says, “Did you really flash your eyes at that jerk boyfriend this morning?”

“Jerk ex-boyfriend,” Agie replies. “And I felt myself beginning to lose control, so I focused all of my anger at him on keeping everything normal except for my eyes. And it worked.”

Derek leaned forward and grabbed Agie around the shoulders and pulled her into a hug, “That was pretty stupid of you, but I’m so proud that you controlled it. That takes a lot.”

Agie grins and hugs him back and then laughs when she feels Cora jump on top of them both and wrap her arms around them. “Come on guys, I’m in the mood for milkshakes before we do homework today.”

“Oooh me too! Derek, how was work today?”

“It was actually nice. I like it there—it’s peaceful. Oh and I spoke to Scott. He ended up leaving around 6, so he should actually be getting here any time now.” 

“Oh awesome,” Cora says. “We can get him a milkshake too. His favorite is strawberry.”

**

Agie and Cora actually manage to get a good amount of homework done while Derek and Scott talk in the living room. Around five, Agie pulls a few of her books off the bed where she and Cora had been working and heads towards the kitchen. She decided that she’s going to make spaghetti and meatballs because she’s not in the mood for anything too complicated, so she pulls the ground beef out of the freezer and starts defrosting it while she pulls a large bowl and spices out of the cabinet.

Cora sets herself up at the kitchen table so she can keep Agie company while she’s getting dinner ready, and the two girls continue to laugh and chat while Cora half-heartedly studies and Agie mashes together the ground beef. When she’s finished with it, she places each of the meatballs in the frying pan and starts heating them while she puts a pot of water on the stove too. After the water began to boil, Agie added the water, all while turning the meatballs continuously so that they’d cook through. While the past was cooking she pulled a Tupperware of her tomato sauce out of the freezer and set that to defrost as well. 

Just as she was adding together all of the finished ingredients, Derek and Scott walked into the kitchen, and Scott asked, “Hey, can we help with anything?” 

Agie pulls Scott into a hug and then points to the cabinet where the plates are kept and asks, “Would you guys mind setting the table? Dinner is almost ready.”

“Where’s your step-mom and step-sister, by the way?” Scott asks as he pulls four plates out of the cabinet and hands them to Derek.

Agie shrugs and replies, “Who knows. When my dad’s not here, we don’t interact very much, unless Jessica gets in one of her moods and insists that we spend time together.”

“That really sucks,” Scott replies as he grabs glasses and forks and follows Derek into the dining room.

“Eh, not really,” Agie says as she pours the pasta, sauce, and meatballs into one of the largest serving platters they have, “I get to spend a lot of time on my own, which is the way I like it.” Agie hands the platter to Cora as she grabs one of the premade bags of salads that Jessica always buys and dumps it into a bowl. As much as she doesn’t like Jessica, she has to admit that sometimes the woman has pretty good taste in things.

The four of them sit down to eat and spend the whole meal laughing and reminiscing about things. As they’re finishing up, Jessica and Connie come home, and look at everyone questioningly. 

“Oh Derek, Cora, Agie didn’t tell me you were all coming over for dinner, I would have cooked something for you!” 

“Don’t worry about it Jessica, Agie made dinner and it was delicious,” Derek points out, as he gestures at all of their empty plates.

“Jessica, I left some pasta and meatballs in the kitchen for you and Connie if you want any,” Agie offers.

“Why thank you, but who’s this handsome young man?” 

“Our friend Scott. He’s from Beacon Hills too.”

Jessica walks over and offers her hand to Scott, “Why Scott, it’s so nice to meet you. What are you doing down in LA?”

“Well, I’m applying to colleges for next year,” Scott explains, “So I wanted to visit UCLA and figured I’d stop by and visit Agie and Derek and Cora while I’m in town.”

“Oh that sounds like such a nice plan! Where are you staying while you’re here?” 

“He’s staying with us,” Derek replies.

“Oh that’s so nice! I was going to bake some cookies, is everyone staying for dessert?” 

“No, Jessica,” Agie replies, “We were actually all going to go out in a few minutes.” 

“Well, but you haven’t finished your homework!” Jessica protested.

“Actually, we did,” Agie answers. “And I had time to cook dinner. Aren’t I impressive?”

“Well, I certainly don’t like that tone, young lady.”

“Too bad,” Agie answers as she rises from the table and gathers some dishes to take into the kitchen.

“Don’t you speak to your mother like that!” Jessica exclaims as she follows Agie into the kitchen.

“You are not my mother,” Agie carefully enunciates. “You’re hardly even a mother to Connie,” Agie points over at Connie as she sits on the kitchen stool eating the dinner that Agie had cooked while she was fooling around with her cell phone. 

“How could you even say that? I provide everything that you girls could need in life.”

“Buying clothes and shoes and things like that, with my dad's money, doesn’t count as being a good mother. A good mother takes care of her child—cooks dinner for them, makes sure there’s food in the house, cares for them.” Connie barely glances up at Agie and Jessica as they argue in the kitchen.

Jessica is about to open her mouth to argue back when the house phone suddenly rings. She picks it up and says, “Oh! I have to take this, but we’re not finished here young lady!” Jessica walks off into the living room and whispers into the phone, “I told you not to call me at night, Phillip! I’m at home with the girls, what if one of them had picked up?”

“I’m sorry Jessica,” a man’s voice answered, a voice the sounded surprisingly like the man who had called the other day. “The goods were just delivered and my driver isn’t answering. Can you pick them up?”

Jessica hissed quietly, “You know very well I can’t pick the goods up. What if I’m caught? I’ve worked very hard to establish this cover, and I cannot be caught smuggling cocaine across county lines!”

Agie stood in the kitchen with her mouth open, and Cora slowly walked into the kitchen, “Cocaine?” Cora said quietly. 

“What the fuck” Agie growled. “That’s it, I don’t need to be here anymore.”

Derek and Scott entered the kitchen with all of the remaining dishes piled together and dropped them into the sink loudly before following Cora and Agie out of the house.


	16. Chapter 16

They decided to go for a run together through the park that David wanted to meet them in. Derek figured if they knew the area that they might be able to avoid any attacks that the Alpha might throw their way. They were all sitting in Scott’s car, mostly because as Scott put it, “it had four doors and they could all sit in it without having their knees up around their ears.” Derek had looked like he wanted to argue, but he ended up smiling ruefully and shrugging his shoulders. 

Once they got to the park, they all piled out of the car and joyfully stretched and joked about their run.

“So, Agie, was that what it really sounded like?” Scott asked before they started running, “with your step-mom?”

Agie sighed answered, “I knew that Jessica was a shitty person who spends a lot of time out of the house, but I never in a million years suspected that she was involved in drug dealing, or whatever.”

Derek pulls Agie into an embrace and says, “She might act nice, but there’s definitely something rotten about that woman. I’m sorry that you’ve had to deal with her for so long.”

Agie smiles up at Derek, “Thanks. But hopefully I won’t have to for too much longer.”

**

After they four of them have been running for twenty minutes or so, Scott suddenly slows down. Agie pulls up next to Scott and whispers, “What’s up?”

“I thought I smelled something,” Scott whispers back. They look at Derek and Cora up ahead of them. They had stopped when they heard Scott and Agie whispering and they were looking back at them questioningly. 

Suddenly, a shot rang out and Agie saw Cora collapse to the ground. Derek turned around and roared, but his roar was cut off suddenly when another shot rang out. Agie winced as she saw blood blossom across Derek’s chest as he fell to the ground as well. Past them, Agie could see three men with shotguns standing just past where Derek and Cora had been, advancing towards Scott and her. 

Scott transformed instantly and roared at the people, who Agie could only assume were hunters. None of them flinched when Scott or Derek had transformed and the fact that they had just shot two people and were advancing on the next two really left Agie with only one conclusion to draw. Agie wanted to worry about Derek and Cora, but she watched as the men took aim at her and Scott, so she dashed to the side and got behind a tree just as she heard another shot ring out. 

Agie glanced to the side and saw Scott’s glowing red eyes as he raced through the woods towards the hunters. She began to creep behind trees so she could get around them, and glanced over again as she heard Scott roar and watched as he jumped at one of them men just as he raised his gun and fired. Scott stumbled for a second, but he jumped back up and knocked the gun out of the man’s hand an instant later.

Agie finally reached where Derek and Cora lay and was relieved to see them both breathing. Derek was struggling to get up and Agie’s vision flashed red once the smell of their blood hit her. Instead of trying to restrain herself, this time she let the wolf take full control, and when she looked up at the two standing men again, she didn’t see two men standing there, she saw two threats that could be easily taken down. 

She let out her own roar as she started running towards them. The man closest to her flinched as he raised his gun to shoot her, but she leapt over it and sunk her claws into his chest and pulled. She felt powerful as she saw her hands turn red with his blood and she felt his chest stop moving. She looked up and saw the last standing man looking at her in horror and she jumped up and swiped at his gun with one hand as she sunk her claws into his throat. She felt a spray of blood hit her on the face, but she wasn’t concerned with that. 

She turned towards Scott and found that the man he had knocked down before had managed to get up again and was advancing on Scott with a large knife. Scott was clutching at his upper shoulder where Agie could see blood seeping through his fingers. Enraged that these men had hurt her pack, Agie jumped on his back and bit at his neck as she sunk her claws into his chest. She felt a pain sear across her shoulder but she pulled her claws out and dropped with the man as he fell to the ground. 

Agie rose up slowly and looked up at Scott. He had leaned against a tree and was looking at Agie with wide eyes. “Scott, are you okay?”

He nodded weakly, “There’s wolfsbane in the bullets. Can… can you find their spare bullets? I’ll show you how to use them to heal us.”

Agie nodded and went around picking up spare bullets from each of the hunter’s bodies. As she returned to Scott, she felt the adrenaline begin to fade and her wolf retreating and her features returning to normal. Scott was still looking at her with wide eyes, but he quietly said, “There’s someone else in the woods, I think we need to leave first, just in case they’re more hunters. You should wipe your face and neck off before we go anywhere though.”

Agie complied and asked, “Can you walk okay? I want to help Derek and Cora.”

“Yes,” Scott replied, “Let’s go check on them. Their hearts are still beating, but Derek’s doesn’t sound so good.”

When Agie gets to them, Cora has her eyes open and she’s leaning towards Derek. She weakly says, “I was just shot in the stomach, but he was shot in the chest and it smells like wolfsbane. Scott, do we have—“

“The wolfsbane bullets, yes, but there’s a few people moving towards us, I want to get back to the car just in case they’re more hunters.”

Cora nods and starts to slowly get up. Agie and Scott lean down and help to lift Derek, Agie takes most of his weight, but Scott helps her to carry him and Cora limps along behind them. 

By the time they get back to the car, they can hear people moving around the area where they left the bodies of the three hunters. Agie can’t quite make out what the men are saying, but they definitely don’t sound happy. 

“Fuck, it is more hunters. They’re arguing about … a treaty? And of course they have a tracker with them,” Scott says as he curses and fumbles his keys out of his pocket. They open the door and unceremoniously dump Derek in the back seat. Scott helps Cora into the back seat also as Agie starts the car. As soon as Scott gets into the car, Agie pulls out and speeds down the road.

Agie drives for about ten minutes until she feels relatively confident that the hunters can’t possibly be following them anymore. She pulls into the parking lot of a closed movie theater and parks in the back where all of the lights are out. She turns to Scott to ask what to do, but sees that he had passed out at some point during the drive. She turns back and sees that Cora and Derek are both unconscious too, and that Derek is looking pale and sweaty.

“Fuck,” Agie says as she pulls out her phone and dials Stiles’ number quickly. As soon as he picks up she starts talking, “Stiles, fuck, you have to help me. They’ve all been shot with wolfsbane, and Scott told me to pick up the spare bullets because they can heal them, but he passed out and I don’t know what to do with them!”

Stiles splutters for a few seconds before he calmly responds, “Okay, don’t worry. Getting the bullets was the most important part. All you have to do is spill out the gunpowder and set it on fire. It’s going to flare up for a few seconds, and then you just have to take the ash and apply it to the bullet wounds. Who is hurt the worst right now?”

“Definitely Derek. He took a shotgun shot straight to his chest.”

“Fuck,” Stiles says, and Agie can hear a touch of panic creep into his voice as he says, “All right. Do you have a lighter?”

“No!”

“Derek always carries one with him, for circumstances just like this. You’re going to have to go through his pockets.”

Agie jumps out of the car and opens the back door so she can reach into Derek’s pockets. She quickly finds the lighter and says to Stiles, “All right, I’ve got it. Now what?”

“You’re going to have to open the bullet. If you don’t have any tools… use your teeth. You’re going to need a metal surface – like a table or something.”

“How’s the hood of Scott’s car?”

“Fine. Just dump the bullet out and light it on fire.”

Agie follows the directions and steps back as the powder flares up briefly and then goes out. “Now you have to spread it over the wound,” Stiles says, “and you might have to hold Derek down to make sure you get it all—it hurts like a bitch, I’ve heard.”

Agie runs back to Derek and rips his shirt open so that she can see exactly where the bullet holes are. She uses the scraps of his shirt to wipe the blood away and then runs back to the hood of the car and gathers up as much of the powder as she can. She rushes back to Derek and braces herself as she reaches forward and smears the powder against Derek’s chest. He surges forward and Agie has to place a hand against his shoulder so that she can finish smearing the powder in. He finally drops back against the seat and groans as Agie watches each of the tiny wounds on his chest sizzle and smoke. Finally, the rancid smell of the wolfsbane fades from him and she can see the holes begin to heal slowly. Tiny pieces of metal are pushed out of his skin as it tries to heal itself. 

Agie is breathing heavily as Derek slowly opens his eyes and looks at her. He tries to smile weakly and then looks over at Cora. He glances back at Agie with worry and she says, “She’s next. You looked like death though, so you got to go first.” Derek nods and reaches up and wipes at Agie’s face. When he drops his hand, Agie sees blood on it, “I must look pretty scary, huh?’

Derek chuckles weakly and says, “Thanks Agie. Thanks for saving us.”

“Hey, that’s what pack does, right?”

“Agie? Agie did it work? Is he okay?” Suddenly Agie notices the far-away sound of Stiles’ voice from where she had dropped her phone on the hood of the car. As she gets up to retrieve her phone she hears Stiles as he continues, “Oh god, please tell me he’s okay. Derek has to be okay. He’s fine, right? And Scott? And Cora? Agie!”

“Hey, Stiles, sorry. Derek is fine. I’m going to help the others, I’ll be back in a minute, okay?”

“Oh thank god,” Stiles gushes in relief.

Derek slowly gets out of the car and walks to Agie, “I can help.”

Agie nods and asks, “Can you go move Cora’s shirt so I can see exactly how bad it is?”

He nods and walks around the car as Agie opens another wolfsbane bullet and lights it on fire. She gathers the powder and meets Derek around the other side of the car. Cora’s wound is much lower on her torso, and it looks like it didn’t hit her lungs at all, which is probably why her color had stayed so much better than Derek’s had. Derek helps Agie hold Cora down as she smoothes the powder into each of the entry wounds. As Cora fell back gasping, Agie got up and moved to where Scott was. His eyes had opened and he softly said, “Agie, you’re the best.”

Agie grinned and ripped his shirt off with her claws to survey the damage. Apparently the guy who had shot Scott didn’t have a shotgun, just a rifle or something, because he only had one bullet wound. Agie went and lit the last wolfsbane bullet and rubbed the ash into Scott’s shoulder. He brought his hand up to clutch at Agie’s shoulder as he groaned while his skin sizzled. “Fuck I hate that” he whimpered out as he fell back.

Agie couldn’t help but laugh softly as she rose and retrieved her phone again. She leaned against the car as she said to Stiles, “It’s all done. They’re all okay.”

“Fuck,” Stiles responded, “What the fuck happened?”

“We went for a run and there were hunters,” Agie started to explain, but paused when Scott held his hand out. Without question, Agie handed the phone to him.

“We wanted to scout out the woods where David wanted to meet with them, just to survey the land. The hunters were talking about an alliance, and how they knew they shouldn’t have trusted the Alpha. I think that David tried to set us up. But there were only three hunters—he wasn’t expecting me to be there, so we were able to get rid of them all. Actually, Agie pretty much single-handedly saved us.”

“Dirty bastard,” Stiles says. “You sure you guys are all okay now?”

“Besides losing a couple shirts, we’re all fine,” Derek says as he walks towards Agie. He offers her the clean part of his shirt and she uses it to wipe her face and hands off. 

** 

Once they’re back at Derek and Cora’s place, Agie checks her cell phone and sees that she has a text message from her dad: “Jessica says you started a fight with her. Everything ok?”

Agie sighs and texts back, “she’s a lying bitch, sorry for the language. I’m staying over Cora’s again. I’ll explain everything when you get home this weekend, ok?”. After a few minutes, Agie’s dad texts back, “love you hun. See you this weekend.”

Agie looked over as Derek’s phone beeped, and he showed her the text he had just gotten from her dad too, “thanks for looking after Agie this week. I’m going to sort things out w/ her step mom this weekend”. 

They each take turns showering and getting rid of the blood on them, and afterwards the four of them cuddle on the couch and eat ice cream. 

“So what should we do now?” Agie asked after a few minutes of silence.

Scott looked over to Derek, who shrugged and said, “It would seem that David let the hunters know we would be in the area that night and offered us to the hunters as … payment or whatever for their alliance. It makes sense, because no self-respecting werewolf would walk into another’s territory at night right before the new moon without preparing themselves. He would have assumed that we wanted to get our bearings, and he probably told the hunters that there would be three young omega werewolves looking around in the woods.”

“It kind of makes sense, actually,” Scott added, “from what you’ve told me about David, he sounds like he has no problem killing the girls that he bites in any way possible. If he has an alliance with hunters where he hands over newcomers to them, it would make sense that he would try to use them to his benefit and have them do his dirty work for him.”

“Great,” Agie said, “so… what do we do now?”

“We’ll go confront David tomorrow,” Derek says decisively. 

“We should try to go earlier in the day,” Scott adds, “this way it’s not too busy at his restaurant and we don’t attract too much attention.”

Agie shrugged and replied, “I haven’t cut school in a while, so that’s no problem for me.”

“And I’m only going to school here to be with Agie, so I don’t care either,” Cora adds. 

“Great, so that’s settled,” Scott concludes. 

The four of them end up sleeping in Derek’s king size bed that night, with Agie snuggled between Derek and Cora, and Scott sleeping on Cora’s other side. “I was so scared when I saw you all get shot,” Agie says quietly into the darkness.

They each reach out and touch Agie, and she feels reassured and comforted just by their touch and closeness. She falls asleep peacefully after just a few minutes.


	17. Chapter 17

Agie woke up in the morning as Scott rolled out of bed. Cora had an arm thrown over Agie’s stomach and Derek’s leg was half covering her own and his arm was draped across her ribs. Scott chuckled as he looked down at the three of them, but quickly made his way towards the bathroom. 

A few minutes later, Derek woke up, and upon realizing how closely he was snuggling with Agie, he tensed up. 

“So I was thinking about making pancakes,” she said without preamble, grinning over at him.

After a moment of tense indecision, Derek apparently decided to shrug off whatever awkwardness he felt being so close to Agie, and replied, “I can get everything set up. And we have bacon.”

Agie grinned, and the two of them detached themselves from Cora as quietly as they could, but she seemed determined to sleep in, so she just rolled over when they left.

Breakfast with Scott was fun; Cora joined them conveniently as soon as everything finished cooking, and they talked about their plans for finding and confronting the Alpha. There was more laughter than Agie would have expected while discussing such a serious topic, but at the same time, Scott had always been so good natured, she felt like she couldn’t honestly be too surprised. 

Everyone showered and got dressed after breakfast, and by eleven, they were all in the car driving towards Venice Beach. Cora was in charge of the music, and she kept putting on the most unique and outlandish cover songs she could find. 

They intentionally parked their car a few blocks away from the restaurant, and as they got out, Scott pulled each of them into a tight embrace, rubbing his hands up and down their backs and arms. 

“Thanks for the hug, dude, but what’s up?” Agie asked as Scott somewhat awkwardly moved on to Derek. 

“I’m covering your scent in mine,” Scott explained. “Sleeping together helped that a lot, but we smell a lot more like pack than the last time you saw David. That will make it harder for him to smell you coming, but also strengthen the bond so he can’t argue with it.”

Agie nodded in understanding. She linked one arm in Scott’s and turned towards their destination, “Lead on alpha, my alpha.”

Cora and Derek grinned and linked arms in similar fashion, and followed Scott and Agie’s lead. 

They were surprised to find the front door to the restaurant open since they could hear only one heartbeat in the kitchen. Scott walked in first, followed by Cora and Agie, and Derek took up the rear, locking the door quietly behind him. 

Loud music played from the kitchen, and Cora quietly said, “Scott, that’s the alpha back there.”

Scott nodded and raised his voice so the alpha could hear it over the music, “Alpha Carson. I’m Alpha McCall and I’m here to talk with you.”

The music stopped suddenly, and the alpha walked out of the kitchen, brushing his hands off on his apron as he came. He didn’t say anything at first, just looked at them all with surprise. 

“Surprised to see us all alive?” Cora asked bitterly. 

He shifted his attention from Scott to Cora, but still did not respond. 

“Alpha Carson,” Scott began again, “Will you talk peacefully with me?”

“I see somebody’s been teaching you your etiquette,” the man snarled.

Scott nodded with a slight grin on his face, “Derek Hale has a lot of knowledge that he has been sharing with me. The Hales have always been a respected family, as I’ve learned from several other packs.”

“They were, until they were all killed,” David said.

“Not all,” Derek said quietly from the back of their small group. “Several of us lived. And we are rebuilding our old alliances. All of them.”

This made David pause for a moment, “But your Alpha isn’t a Hale.”

Derek shrugged. “We’re the McCall-Hale pack now. Things change. My mother wasn’t born a Hale, but she was still our Alpha.”

“Why are you here, bothering me again?” David asked harshly, apparently tired of being corrected.

“I don’t like the way you’ve treated a member of my pack,” Scott said. “I know it is unconventional to have a pack member living so far from their territory, but Agie is still in school. We would like her to remain home until she graduates. We feel that is a fair request.”

“And what if I don’t agree to it?”

“Then you and I will have a problem,” Scott replied simply. 

“You and I?” David laughed, “What obstacle could you possibly pose to me? You can’t be more than sixteen.”

Scott shrugged, “I’m seventeen, actually. And you might be surprised what kind of strengths come with being a True Alpha.”

The man blanched slightly at Scott’s words, but then shifted into his monstrous werewolf form and jumped at Scott.

Scott didn’t miss a beat, shifting as he stepped out of the way and slicing at the other alpha’s side as he went. The older man howled in pain and spun around to face Scott again. 

Agie wanted to step forward as the two alphas eyed each other, but Derek and Cora had explained that for David to truly accept Scott’s claim over her, he had to be the one to overpower the other alpha. If any of them helped Scott, it would make him appear weak in the other alpha’s eyes. Agie just gritted her teeth and watched the two fight.

David growled and leapt forward again, but he expected Scott to try to sidestep him again, so he tackled Scott as he shifted directions at the last moment. Scott growled and used his momentum to flip David over as they fell. David crashed into a table and crumpled behind the chairs. After less than second though, he was back up again, racing towards Scott. 

The older alpha stopped just out of Scott’s reach, and the two of them traded a few blows and slices with their claws. Agie quickly realized that Scott’s reach wasn’t as far as David’s, because after less than a minute, Scott had several new sources of blood flowing from his arms and legs. 

Scott realized his disadvantage too, and launched himself at David, grappling with him for a moment before flipping him over onto another table, which broke under his back. Scott instantly jumped onto him amidst the splintered remains of the table and dove instantly for David’s neck. After a few more minutes of grappling and growling, David finally went limp in Scott’s arms. 

“Is he dead?” Agie whispered fearfully as she, Cora, and Derek finally stepped closer to Scott. She knew Scott didn’t want to kill the alpha, but she also wasn’t sure if he had much choice at the moment. 

David’s low growl answered her question though. 

“Yield,” Scott commanded. 

“I will not submit to you, Alpha,” David growled. 

“I don’t want your submission, asshole,” Scott answered, “I just want you to stop trying to kill my beta.”

David blinked several times, “You don’t want my formal submission? And ownership over my territory?”

“Why would I want your pack?” Scott asked, “I’m more than happy with my pack territory. I don’t want you to submit your authority to me. I just want you to cede to my request. I already very politely asked you to stop trying to murder my beta. And then you took it a step further and set hunters on both me and my betas.” Scott paused for a moment, pretending to ponder, “I actually would have grounds to request you step down and take over your territory. I’m also positive that the hunters do not appreciate being used like pawns. My hunter contact told me that the local LA hunters blame you for the deaths of four of their men. They think you sent them into an ambush. Apparently, you told them a couple omegas were in the forest. And instead they met an alpha and his pack. Also, my emissary found some very interesting police reports. Apparently over the last twenty years, at least fourteen young women with brown hair and blue eyes have been killed under suspicious circumstances, been murdered, or gone missing, all within a five mile radius. And all of these deaths have happened between April and July. Almost as if a serial killer had done it. My emissary has contacts in the LAPD and will be sending over all of his information…. Derek, when?”

Derek made a show of checking the time, “Seventeen minutes.”

Scott nodded and leaned back slightly from the death grip he had been maintaining on David’s throat, “If I don’t call my emissary in seventeen minutes, he’s going to send over all of the information, along with your photograph, full name, and contact information, along with the address of this restaurant.”

David growled low in his throat but didn’t move a muscle. “Fine,” he finally said, “I promise on my Alpha status that I will not attempt in any way to harm your beta, on the condition that she leaves my territory as soon as she finishes school.”

Scott nods, “That was part of the initial request. As soon as she graduates in June, she’ll leave Los Angeles forever.”

Agie’s heart tightened for a moment; as much as she wanted to leave for college, “forever” was still a big word. She could never come back home to LA ever? Ever?

David turned and looked at Agie for possibly the first time, “And this Alpha speaks for you?”

Agie nodded. 

David looked back up at Scott, “Then I submit to your request. She will be left alone.”

Scott nodded and slowly moved off of him, keeping a wary eye on David the whole time. He walked back over towards his pack and they followed him towards the door. He turned back just before leaving, and Derek stepped around him to unlock the door and open it. 

“We’re reestablishing old alliances,” Scott began. “The Hale pack used to have an alliance with your pack, under the former Alpha. We could be interested in reopening negotiations with you. If,” he paused for effect while staring at David, “If there are no more reports of brown haired, blue eyed girls mysteriously dying.”

The other alpha didn’t respond, so the four of them walked out of the door, leaving him still laying in the destruction left in his restaurant. 

**

“I think we’re being followed,” Derek said after they had been driving for almost twenty minutes.

“What?” Agie and Cora both exclaimed as they turned around quickly.

“Well you’ve definitely tipped him off that we can see him now,” Derek said drily with a smile. He got off at the next exit and pulled into the back of a Home Depot parking lot right off the exit.

An SUV followed them slowly and parked a few spaces away. Alex, David’s partner, stepped out and raised his two hands in a sign of surrender. “I’m just here to talk,” he said quietly. 

Derek and Scott immediately got out of the car with low growls, and Agie and Cora followed a moment after. 

“I’m not here about what happened with David,” he said as soon as they were all out. “I stayed outside the restaurant the whole time. That was between the two of you. But… I wanted to explain a few things to you.”

Scott didn’t reply, but after a few beats he nodded an invitation. 

“When David was a teenager, he fell in love. Our mother, the Alpha, died in an accident suddenly, and he inherited the Alpha power. He was too young and hadn’t been fully trained. He wasn’t ready for it. He bit his girlfriend, but the bite didn’t take. She died. Something about losing our mother and losing Tammy destroyed something inside him. It took him a long time to recover, but now, he is a great Alpha. He leads the pack with logic and kindness. He keeps peace in our city. Our pack is one of the biggest on the West Coast, and David is able to maintain it all with ease.”

“Except for the whole murdering teenage girls thing,” Cora interrupted. 

Alex raised a hand, “I only found out about that a few years ago. Our mother died in April and Tammy died in June of the same year. Apparently, whichever full moon is the strongest in that season, it drives David back to that initial period of grief, when he was almost out of his mind. As far as I can tell, he has bitten over a dozen girls over the years. It’s been almost 25 years since Tammy died, so he must only bite the girls when he can find one that looks just like her, like you do,” he said, nodding at Agie. “Up close, I can obviously tell that you’re not her, but at first glance it’s almost eerie how much you resemble her.”  
“And how do you know all of this?” Derek asked.

“I’m his younger brother,” Alex answered simply, “and his second.”

“And you didn’t know about him biting the girls?”

“Like I said, not until just a few years ago. His wife and I stumbled on one of the girls. I think he actually wanted her to join the pack, you know, do right by her. But his wife flipped out. She didn’t want him to have a girl who looked just like his first love. So he said she moved on. But I caught him burying her body a couple days later. I did some research and realized that she wasn’t the first girl.”

“And you were just fine about it?” Scott was clearly offended by this idea.

“No!” Alex nearly shouted before dropping his voice so that he wouldn’t gather the attention of any of the people driving by. “I confronted him. We had never fought like that before. I threatened to turn him in to the police. I threatened to reveal the truth to our pack. They would not have accepted it. We have a lot of young members too, and they wouldn’t have trusted him knowing what he had done to so many girls the same age as our members. He would have been kicked out of the pack. He would have been exiled.”

“And you couldn’t live with that?” Scott asked.

Alex shook his head sadly, “He really is a good Alpha. I didn’t want to risk the security of the whole pack for his bad deeds. He knew I wouldn’t really turn on him. But he promised anyway. He promised to stop. We spent each fully moon together all spring and summer since then. He seemed truly committed to getting better, to being a better person. It has been years since he bit a girl. But then this year…”

“Yes?” Agie asked, “What happened this year? Because he was definitely alone when he bit me.”

“My wife was in labor,” Alex replied softly. “She gave birth to our fifth child. And David and I had our first spring full moon apart in almost six years.”

“So it’s your fault.” Cora stated, folding her arms over her chest.

“No, it’s still David’s fault,” Derek corrected. “Alex shouldn’t have to babysit his older brother, just to prevent him from murdering girls. David knew what was at risk. He could have called someone else in the pack to spend time with him - his wife even. But he ran out into the woods and found Agie. He is the only one at fault.”

Alex smiled faintly. “Thank you. Regardless, I feel guilty. If I had … If I had done any number of things differently, you’d still be human. And you would not have had to deal with everything that David has thrown at you during the last few weeks. I’m sorry, for what part of it is my fault.”

Agie nodded, “Thank you for the apology. I’m happy with things the way they are. I won’t ever forgive David for taking the choice away from me. That violation was unacceptable. But I am happy now.”

Alex closed his eyes for a moment before looking back at her, “Thank you.”

Scott took a step forward, “We agreed that David would leave Agie and the rest of us alone, and that after she graduates she will leave LA. Do you accept our agreement?”

Alex nodded several times, “I think David realizes that this is the best possible scenario for him. I will ensure that he upholds his agreement. And I am going to have another talk with him. I hope that now he will realize how serious his actions are.”

“You’re just going to let him stay Alpha?” Cora asked incredulously. 

Alex shrugged, “I don’t know what else to do. He’s been my Alpha for most of my life at this point. And he’s my older brother. I can’t turn on him. It’s not in me. But I can take care of him better. That’s the best I can do.”

“Sometimes, it’s best to just leave the past in the past,” Scott said slowly.


	18. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG GUYS THIS IS THE END

The doorbell rang at eight in the morning on the day of Agie’s graduation, and she almost screamed as she ran downstairs to open the door for Stiles and Uncle John. The three of them exchanged huge hugs as he dad followed at a more sedate pace. He hugged Stiles and Uncle John too and welcomed them into the kitchen. Pancakes were on the plates waiting for them and Stiles dove in with excitement. 

Agie sat down next to Stiles and couldn’t help from grinning at him while he tried to eat and talk at the same time. 

“So we drove all night,” Stiles continued. “Since dad’s been working mostly night shifts to get some time off to come down here, he’s used to being awake. And he even let me drive for a couple hours too!”

“Mostly because there were almost no cars on the road, so it would have been next to impossible for you to get into an accident,” Uncle John said said wryly as he took a sip of coffee.

“And I’m definitely going to crash at some point,” Stiles continued, “But I am just so excited to see you! And I can’t wait to see Derek and Cora. And congratulations on graduating!”

Agie laughed, “I’m not graduating until noon, but thanks.”

“I was thinking that you two could nap now, if you would like. We don’t actually have to leave until eleven. And Derek and Cora are planning on meeting us there,” Agie’s dad said while serving out the last of the pancakes. 

Stiles paused with his fork midway to his mouth, “That might actually be the best idea I’ve heard all day.”

Agie’s father grinned, “Well, since it’s only eight am, I’ll take that compliment for what it is.”

After they finished eating, Agie brought Stiles up to her room so he could crash in her bed. “How’s the divorce going?” He asked as he pulled a pair of sweatpants out of his duffle bag. 

Agie shrugged, “As well as it can, I guess. My dad was pretty beat up when he learned about Jessica’s involvement in the drug smuggling, but the police said they don’t have enough evidence to arrest her, and since my dad really doesn’t have much information at all, well, that’s the end of that. But they got an apartment downtown and I cannot wait until the day when I never have to hear her name again.”

Stiles nodded and reached out to hug her one more time before turning and climbing into bed. “My alarm is set,” he said, “but won’t you need to get dressed or something before we leave?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Agie said, “my dress is hanging in the bathroom.”

Stiles nodded and Agie left him alone to sleep. 

**

Stiles was a restless ball of energy when they drove to Agie’s graduation. She reached out across the back seat and held his hand, “He’s really excited to see you,” she whispered. 

Stiles squeezed her hand but didn’t reply. 

Derek and Cora were waiting near the entrance and Agie grinned widely when she saw them. Cora and she had picked out their dresses a couple of weeks ago, and Cora looked fantastic in her short purple dress. Derek had nearly choked when he saw how short it was, but Agie had promised him that it was the perfect look. 

Derek was looking particularly handsome in one of the new shirts Agie had bought him. When she learned that his birthday wasn’t until December, she promptly went out and bought him a half dozen shirts, saying that she owed him. This one was a moss green polo that made his eyes practically glow. 

Agie felt Stiles still as they approached and he appreciated the full effect of Derek’s appearance. Derek also only had eyes for Stiles, and Cora helped to prevent any awkwardness by stepping forward and warmly greeting Agie’s dad and Uncle Stiles. She then pulled Stiles into a quick hug and when she let go she gave him a slight push in Derek’s direction. 

As Stiles took a step towards him, Derek finally moved. He opened his arms and enveloped Stiles in a hug, burying his nose in Stiles’ neck. Stiles wrapped his arms around Derek's back and they just stood there.

“The weather is perfect,” Cora said loudly, “It’s not too warm, and since it’s cloudy we don’t have to worry about sunburns.”

Uncle John laughed and rubbed the back of his neck, “Hey, do you all burn, or is it just us Polish humans that need to worry about it?”At this, Derek tensed up and pulled back from Stiles slightly to look at Uncle John. “Don’t worry about it, son. Scott told me a couple weeks ago, right around the same time you guys told Agie’s dad. He said it was only fair for the whole family to know.”

Derek smiled faintly and looked back at Stiles, who still had his arms wrapped around Derek’s lower back. “Do you want to go find seats?”

“I have to go line up over there,” Agie pointed. “But I’ll see you all later.”

Cora reached out and hugged Agie one more time and then Agie waved with a wide grin as she watched her family walk towards the seating area. A part of her couldn’t believe that just a few weeks ago she only considered her dad, Uncle John, and Stiles family, but now the number had doubled. And in just a few days she would be moving up to Beacon Hills, where Stiles promised the rests of the pack would be like family too. 

**

“You didn’t tell me it was a mansion,” Agie couldn’t help herself from shouting. “This is a mansion!”

Derek chuckled but opened the trunk to begin unloading it without replying. 

“I told you it had six bedrooms, and eight bathrooms,” Stiles pointed out. “I kind of thought that might imply ‘mansion.’”

“I don’t know,” Agie replied as she gestured wildly at the house, “I kind of just pictured like, a big colonial or something. This is a freaking mansion!”

Cora grinned and shoved a duffle bag into Agie’s arms, “Come on, let’s go find your room.”

“I still kind of can’t believe that your dad agreed to let you live here,” Stiles said to Agie. “I mean, I know we totally offered you our guest room, but it’s been holding junk for years now, and honestly it’s way smaller than any of the rooms here.”

Agie grinned back, “I mean, once he got over the whole ‘werewolf’ thing, he was honestly pretty accepting of it all. Plus, he’s seen that guest room, Stiles. He didn’t want to make anyone suffer through attempting to clean that out.”

“Ha ha,” Stiles replied, but he enthusiastically stepped forward and took a box from Derek, brushing his fingers over Derek’s intentionally. Derek grinned and swatted at him as Stiles danced away. Agie was so glad that they had finally talked about their feelings after her graduation. Derek was still determined not to do anything until Stiles turned eighteen, and after they explained about Kate, she understood some of his motives. She was just glad that the two of them weren’t pining silently anymore, and that they were comfortable being themselves around each other. She predicted that Stiles would be spending a lot of time over at their pack house during the summer, and that once he began his senior year, he would still find reasons to be there on a regular basis. 

She honestly couldn’t be happier. 

Scotts car emerged from the treeline and pulled up next to Agie’s car. Scott, Isaac, and Allison stepped out and began to help them unload the car. At this rate, Agie, Derek, and Cora would be completely moved in really quickly. 

On their second round back to get boxes, Agie and Isaac bumped into each other, and as Agie grinned an apology up at Isaac, she was intrigued to see the blush spread up his cheeks. She gently hip checked him as she moved away with her box and grinned as she heard him chuckle behind her.


End file.
